BUDAPEST: Hungary’s budget deficit would come in at 2.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) according to EU accounting methods in 2015, stated National Bank of Hungary. The bank said in its latest inflation report that the deficit could drop to 2.2% of GDP in 2016. The bank kept its projection unchanged for this year, but raised it for 2016 from the 1.9% forecast earlier.
Investments are projected to grow by 5.2% this year, up from 1.8% forecast in the December report. Hungary’s economy would continue to grow steadily this year helped by both internal and external demand, the report said.
The Central Bank also said that Hungary’s unadjusted net external financing capacity came to 2.878 billion euros in the fourth quarter of last year, lifted by 2.412 billion euros in European Union transfers, said. Adjusted for seasonal effects, the net external financing capacity was 2.484 billion euros, or 10% of quarterly GDP. EU transfers reached a seasonally-adjusted 1.504 billion euros. The combined balance of goods, one of the main aggregates of net external financing capacity calculated as the balance of the current and capital accounts, rose to 821 million euros in the fourth quarter from 762 million euros in the previous quarter, according to seasonally-adjusted data. The surplus of services rose to 1.324 billion euros from 1.273 billion euros and included a travel surplus of 752 million euros.
Meanwhile the latest report on Hungary’s Economic Acceleration Indicator (GYIA), a measure of economic and financial indicators compiled by business daily Világgazdaság, has been published as well. Hungary’s GYIA rose by 2.8% in March from the same month a year earlier, and was up 0.64% from the previous month.
