Pre-financing for EU projects brings budget deficit close to 80% of full-year target

Hungary’s cash flow-based budget deficit, excluding local councils, was 1,081.4 billion forints at the end of April, or 79.5 percent of the full-year target, the Finance Ministry confirmed in a detailed monthly report on Tuesday.

In April, the budget shortfall came to 209.4 billion forints (HUF 100 = EUR 0.3158).

The ministry noted that pre-financing for EU-funded projects reached 857.2 billion forints by the end of April, while transfers from Brussels came to just 63.9 billion.

Expenditures were also lifted by spending on central budget-funded projects, such as the Modern Cities scheme, the Healthy Budapest Programme and priority road investments among other items.

The ministry noted that central budget revenue from VAT and personal income tax was up 136.4 billion forints and 82.3 billion, respectively, in January-April from the same period a year earlier, while payroll tax revenue climbed by 91 billion.

The government is standing by its full-year deficit target of 2.4 percent of GDP and assumes economic growth of above 4 percent, the ministry said.

Source: MTI