Hungary’s budget deficit brutal high

Hungary’s cash flow-based budget, excluding local councils, posted a shortfall of 1,144.1 billion forints at the end of March, widening from 539.7 billion at the end of the previous month, the Finance Ministry confirmed in a detailed reading of data on Friday.

The central budget ran a 943 billion forint deficit at the end March, while the social security funds had a deficit of 182.7 billion. Separate state funds were 18.4 billion in the red.

The ministry said revenue was

“significantly influenced” by the economic impact of the pandemic as well as by the payroll tax cut.

Payouts for European Union-supported projects came to 615.6 billion in January-March, while transfers from Brussels reached 150.6 billion.

State spending on pandemic protection measures amounted to 342.8 billion forints in January-March,

the ministry said.

The new ESA deficit target is 7.5 percent of GDP, the ministry said, adding that spending on pandemic and economic recovery measures should be implemented in such a way that the public debt relative to GDP is reduced at the same time.

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Source: MTI