Hungary Fiscal Council: 2010 Draft Budget Only Partly Lawful
BUDAPEST -(Dow Jones)- Hungary's Fiscal Council said Thursday that the 2010
draft budget, in its current form, only partly meets the requirements set in the
State Budget Bill and the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
It would be necessary to make public the expected outcome of the 2009 budget,
which the government used to draw up the 2010 budget draft, to be able to
evaluate the 2010 budget developments, said the Council, an independent fiscal
policy monitoring body, in a report.
Several private bank analysts expect the government to overshoot this year's
budget deficit target of 3.9% of gross domestic product. The Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development projected earlier Thursday that this year's
budget shortfall will total 4.3% of GDP.
Lax fiscal policy was one of the main reasons Hungary was hit so hard by the
global economic crisis, forcing it to seek help from the International Monetary
Fund--the first European Union country to do so.
As a result, Hungary is pursuing a tight fiscal policy while most other
countries are boosting public spending to support their economic recovery.
Council's Web site: www.mkkt.hu
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-By Margit Feher, Dow Jones Newswires; +361-267-0622; margit.feher@
dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-19-091235ET
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