The Hungarian Government plans no election-time budget and wants no weak forint

20 March 2013

Hungarian Minister for National Economy Zoltán Cséfalvay emphasised that Hungary is committed to a general government deficit target below 3 per cent of GDP. "We are aware of how painful the fiscal consolidation process has been and which sacrifices the business and private sectors had to make."

In Cséfalvay's opinion, the debate on the amendment of the Basic Law has not been brought into connection with the decision on lifting the Excessive Deficit Procedure. These two issues are not correlated: one is political by nature and the other one depends on economic facts and figures, he added. Responding to a question about the most pressing Hungarian economic issues investors have been concerned about Mr Cséfalvay said that they were most interested in growth prospects and what may be the driver of this growth.

When asked about the discrepancy between official estimates on Hungary’s economic growth and those by analysts – which are far more pessimistic – Cséfalvay stressed that Hungary’s economic performance is the key issue for this year, but first quarter GDP data will be instrumental in making more precise projections. On the other hand he underlined that – in addition to the aforementioned pro-growth factors – decreasing inflation is expected to translate also into real wage increase which, in turn, may boost domestic demand.

Full press release

© Hungarian Government