BUDAPEST: Hungary’s general government deficit in the first half of 2016 came to HUF 122.8 billion, which is 0.7% of GDP according to preliminary data. This is HUF 184.9 billion less, or 1.1 percentage points lower, compared to the corresponding period a year earlier, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) announced today in a first release of data.
The decrease in the deficit was mainly due to declines in expenditure on investment – financed from revenues from the EU – and in interest expenditures, as well as to growth in actual social contributions and revenues from taxes on income, according to the KSH report.
In the first half of the year, following a decrease of HUF 377.3 bln, expenditures on investment fell to half of the figure in the same period of 2015, as a consequence of the completion of EU projects, KSH data show. The general government’s interest expenditures were also reduced, by HUF 33.2 billion (5.5%), the KSH added.
Of revenues during the first half, actual social contributions were HUF 163.8 bln (7.6%) higher, while revenues from taxes on income HUF 140.5 bln (13%) more than a year earlier, the latter mainly resulting from payments from recipients of tax credit for growth, the KSH added.
In the second quarter of the year, the deficit in the general government sector was HUF 61.4 bln, 0.7% of GDP, HUF 9.6 billion more – or 0.1 of a percentage point higher – compared to the equivalent period a year earlier. Revenues declined by HUF 142.8 bln, or 3.6%, while expenditures were HUF 133.2 bln (3.3%) lower than a year earlier, according to the KSH.
