Public debt shrinking faster than EU average, says government

The rate at which Hungary’s public debt will fall in the coming years will be twice the EU average, Mihály Varga, the finance minister, said on Friday.

Hungary’s public debt-GDP ratio will decline to 63.1 percent by 2026 compared with 76.8 percent at the end of last year, Varga said on Facebook. The EU average is forecast to drop to 84.1 percent in four years’ time from 90.3 percent in 2021, he said. “Our aim is to make the economy crisis-proof,” he said, adding the government would continue to improve the balance indicators, budget deficit and public debt.

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Statistical office: Hungary posts EUR 523 m trade deficit in April

Hungary’s trade balance showed a 523 million euro deficit in April, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said in a second reading of data released on Friday. In the first reading, published on June 8, KSH had put the April deficit at 475 million euros. Hungary, an export-driven economy where trade surpluses are the norm, had a trade deficit for the tenth month in a row.

Exports rose by an annual 12.6 percent to 11.097 billion euros and imports climbed by 22.0 percent to 11.620 billion.