The ratio dropped from 80.3% at the end of Q3 and 80% at the end of 2020. 

The Finance Ministry had forecast the debt ratio would reach 79.9% at year-end.

Hungary's constitution stipulates that year-end state debt relative to GDP must decline until the ratio reaches 50pc. State debt ratios were in compliance with the rule until pandemic expenditures lifted the ratio by close to 15 percentage points in 2020.