The Hungarian government will not be able to meet its 2010 budget deficit target, a main opposition Fidesz official said on Thursday.
Laszlo Domokos, who is deputy head of parliament’s budget committee, said the government will rake up three-quarters of the full-year deficit target in the first quarter. He added that although public sector bonuses were scrapped for the end of 2009, the government is handing out compensations in the sector before the general elections due in the spring.
Fidesz wants to put an end to an era of “budgeting tricks,” Domokos added.
Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai said on Thursday, after a visit to financial market watchdog PSZAF, that Hungary can meet the targets in the 2010 budget, but only if it sticks to the current tight fiscal policy.
“If the next government sees that this path can lead to a sustainable and stable economy, as well as to the introduction of the euro, the targets in the 2010 budget can be met,” Bajnai said.
On Tuesday, Finance Minister Peter Oszko said that the 2010 budget deficit would be front-loaded partly because of extra hospital financing, costs associated with state railway MAV, interest payments and public sector bonuses to be paid in February. Oszko however said that the 2010 budget deficit target of 3.8 percent of GDP using EU accounting rules was not in jeopardy.
