BUDAPEST: Hungary’s cash-flow-based general government balance, excluding local councils, came to 536.7 billion forints in January-March, or 61.2% of the full year target, the economy ministry said in a second reading of data. The figure balance was the same as in a preliminary report released on April 8.
The ministry noted that the deficit is front-loaded, as usual, with expenditures exceeding revenue in the first half of the year. In January-March 2014, the deficit was 701.2 billion forints. The ministry attributed the decline in the deficit from the same period a year earlier to higher tax revenue resulting from steady economic growth and a favourable interest balance.
Meanwhile the Fiscal Council said there was room in the budget for the government’s announced tax cuts. The 2016 budget could finance 100-120 billion forints (EUR 332m-398m) worth of tax cuts, with this year’s economic growth estimated at 2.5-3.5%, Árpád Kovács, the Fiscal Council’s head, said. The whitening of the economy has been “very helpful” and it is expected to continue next year, Kovács told public news channel M1. The output of the construction, automotive and agricultural sectors has been good and that performance is expected to last throughout the year, he said.
