Finance Minister Mihály Varga (Illustration) – (Photo: MTI)

Budget runs HUF 181 billion surplus for September, ministry confirms

Hungary's cash flow-based budget deficit, excluding local councils, had a 2,691.7 billion forint (EUR 6.5m) deficit at the end of September, after running a 181.0 billion forint surplus for the month, the finance ministry confirmed in a second reading of data on Friday.

The full-year cash flow-based budget deficit target is 3,152.7 billion forints.

The central budget deficit reached 2,773.0 billion forints at the end of September. The social security funds were 171.3 billion forints in the red, while the separate state funds had a surplus of 252.6 billion.

The ministry said the government’s “most important goal”, as the war in Ukraine and the effect of sanctions push the entire European economy into crisis, is “preserving Hungary’s stability”.

The ministry noted that the 2022 budget deficit target, calculated according to the Europeans Union’s accrual-based accounting rules, has been raised from 4.9 percent to 6.1 percent of GDP. It attributed the full increase to a top-up of the gas reserves of the Hungarian Hydrocarbon Stockpiling Association (MSZKSZ), worth some 740 billion forints.

Leave a Reply