Economy
Hungary's full-year budget deficit seen smaller than forecast - paper
Hungary pencilled in a budget gap of HUF 992.4 billion for 2009 and was unwilling to modify this goal even when it seemed almost impossible to reach. After the November figure it turned out the December balance must show a HUF 131 bn surplus if the objective was to be met. Népszabadság said that based on the budget’s Wednesday status, the surplus may be some HUF 50-60 bn bigger than that and could possibly improve further today. The explanation lies in the fact that while revenues are churning in, payments are already closed.The paper stressed, though that the better budget balance is the cash-flow based number and the ESA figure will not be available for a few months. (Hungary pledged to the IMF and the European Commission to post a budget gap no wider than 3.9% of GDP this year and trim it to 3.8% in 2010.)
The paper said tax revenues overshot estimates by HUF 25-30 bn in December, primarily thanks to higher-than-expected revenues from VAT. Meanwhile, budget spending proved to be smaller than projected, even though state-run railway company MÁV was granted some extra money and housing subsidies were also transferred. The daily said no spending items were put off to 2010.
While corporate tax revenues failed to reach the targeted sum, the other tax revenues were large enough to offset this negative impact, the paper added.
The paper said tax revenues overshot estimates by HUF 25-30 bn in December, primarily thanks to higher-than-expected revenues from VAT. Meanwhile, budget spending proved to be smaller than projected, even though state-run railway company MÁV was granted some extra money and housing subsidies were also transferred. The daily said no spending items were put off to 2010.
While corporate tax revenues failed to reach the targeted sum, the other tax revenues were large enough to offset this negative impact, the paper added.
