Economy
Hungarian lawmakers approve key budget figures for 2014, up deficit target
Parliament’s Budget Committee has cleared the above targets already late on Monday. Péter Banai, deputy state secretary at the Economy Ministry said at the meeting that macroeconomic data published since the budget bill had been submitted which reaffirmed its soundness.
That is why the state will be able to consolidated municipal debt from HUF 60 bn. Although the shortfall will be increased by that much, but revenues of local governments will grow by the same amount therefore the ESA-95 gap will remain unchanged at 2.9% of GDP, he added.
The HUF 984 bn gap would translate into 3.2% of GDP (HUF 30,629 bn pencilled in for 2014), on a cash flow basis.
Another major increase to spending is related to supporting local transport of the capital city. Lawmakers have approved a proposal to increase funding of Budapest's already heavily subsidised public transport system. Instead of the HUF 10 billion earmarked for this purpose in the original draft, the government will channel HUF 24 billion towards mass transit in its capital city next year. Finding the source of extra funding took no more than a stroke of a pen: the government has hiked the 2014 VAT revenue target by HUF 14 billion. Banai labelled the new VAT revenue target as realistic.
That is why the state will be able to consolidated municipal debt from HUF 60 bn. Although the shortfall will be increased by that much, but revenues of local governments will grow by the same amount therefore the ESA-95 gap will remain unchanged at 2.9% of GDP, he added.
The HUF 984 bn gap would translate into 3.2% of GDP (HUF 30,629 bn pencilled in for 2014), on a cash flow basis.
Another major increase to spending is related to supporting local transport of the capital city. Lawmakers have approved a proposal to increase funding of Budapest's already heavily subsidised public transport system. Instead of the HUF 10 billion earmarked for this purpose in the original draft, the government will channel HUF 24 billion towards mass transit in its capital city next year. Finding the source of extra funding took no more than a stroke of a pen: the government has hiked the 2014 VAT revenue target by HUF 14 billion. Banai labelled the new VAT revenue target as realistic.
