April budget deficit HUF 2,598 billion

The central budget posted a shortfall of 2,590.6 billion at the end of the month, while social security funds were 103.3 billion in the red. Separate state funds were 96.4 billion in the black.

The budget posted a deficit of 2,321.4 billion forints at the end of March.

Interest spending, including large payments on retail government securities, came to 1,507.8 billion forints in January-April, up 632.4 billion from the same period a year earlier, the ministry said. Spending on maintaining the regulated utilities price system for households reached 540.0 billion, it added.

The government is committed to reduce the deficit and the state debt and therefore continuously monitors the development of the budget. It has rescheduled 675 billion forints worth of state investments in order to achieve the 4.5 percent deficit target while several thousand billion forints worth of developments will be implemented this year, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.