IMF backs Hungary’s ambitious EU presidency goals

The International Monetary Fund’s economic growth projections put Hungary among next year’s European Union frontrunners, Finance Minister Mihály Varga said after meeting IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in Budapest on Thursday.

According to a ministry statement, Varga said the IMF supports the goals of the Hungarian European Union presidency regarding the EU providing more assistance in debt management to low-income, typically migrant-originating countries.

The minister said the vulnerability of low-income countries impacted the entire global economy. He said it was in the EU’s long-term interest that the financing burden and migration pressure on the bloc ease as the poorer countries catch up, adding that these countries should be supported in ways that allow their difficulties to be solved locally.

Meanwhile, Varga said that in recent years, Hungary’s relationship with the IMF had been placed on new foundations, and the country was now participating in the organisation’s annual meetings within a completely different framework than around 2008. He said the IMF acknowledged the “Hungarian solution” based on a work-based economy and agreed with the gradual reduction of the budget deficit and public debt.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva is in Budapest to address a meeting of the council of EU finance ministers.

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