General government deficit at HUF 144.9 bln in April, near 19% of full-year target
Hungaryʼs cashflow-based government deficit, excluding local councils, reached HUF 144.9 billion at the end of April, a first reading of data released by the National Economy Ministry today shows, according to Hungarian news agency MTI.
The deficit reached about 19.02% of the HUF 761.6 bln full-year target, Econews calculated.
The ministry noted that the deficit for the first four months of the year was the lowest in nearly fifteen years. The deficit had reached around HUF 610 bln at the end of April last year.
The central budget deficit came to HUF 209 bln for January-April 2016. The social insurance funds and separate state funds had surpluses of HUF 42.6 bln and HUF 21.5 bln, respectively.
For the month of April, the deficit came to HUF 19.1 bln compared to last yearʼs HUF 73.1 bln deficit.
The ministry attributed the difference in the deficit figures to higher tax revenues and significantly lower expenditures.
Tax revenues were up, including revenues from VAT, the corporate tax and personal income tax. Steps taken by the government to crackdown on tax evasion improved taxpayer morale, the ministry said.
On the expenditure side, with the closure of the 2007-2013 European Union funding cycle, co-payments on European Union-supported projects were lower as payments for the 2014-2020 cycle will pick up later on. Interest expenditures also diminished compared to last year.
The ministry confirmed the full-year deficit target of 2% of GDP, calculated according to European Union rules.
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