BUDPEST: Hungary’s National Bank (MNB) raised its forecast for 2015 economic output growth to 3.2%, the main figures of its fresh quarterly Inflation Report showed. The bank also cut sharply its forecast for inflation in 2015, now expecting consumer prices to stagnate this year rather than increasing on average by 0.9% as projected in December. MNB forecasts Hungary’s budget deficit would come in at 2.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) according to EU accounting methods in 2015.
Further the National Bank stated that The Hungarian gross budget deficit reached around 76.9% of gross domestic product at the end of 2014, a second reading of data published by the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) shows. The deficit data was calculated at nominal value and in line with Maastricht methodology.
Preliminary data published in February had shown the debt stood at 77.3% at the end of last year, unchanged from the end of 2013. Hungary’s Constitution requires year-end public debt as a percentage of GDP to decline until a 50% cap is reached. The net public financing requirement, which is a good approximation of the public finance deficit, stood at 803 billion forints (EUR 2.68bn) or 2.5% of GDP in 2014. Meanwhile Hungary’s National Bank (MNB) raised its forecast for 2015 economic output growth to 3.2%, the main figures of its fresh quarterly Inflation Report showed.
