Govt prepares report on measures to have EU excessive deficit procedure abrogated

The government has prepared a report for the Council of the EU and the European Commission on its measures taken in order to have the EU’s excessive deficit procedure abrogated, describing the consolidation measures included in the 2012 budget act in order to achieve the deficit target of 2.5% of GDP, according to a document dated December 2011 and posted on the official government website kormany.hu now.

The document says the European Council’s recommendation has set 2011 as the deadline to redress Hungary’s excessive deficit.

The general government budget balance shows a surplus in 2011, but the balance was influenced by substantial one-off items (primarily the transfer of assets accumulated in private pension funds to the state pension fund as part of the pension reform).

The document says the government is committed to eliminating the excessive deficit in a sustainable manner. Therefore, following the moves planned in the Convergence Programme of April 2011, several consolidation measures have been built into the 2012 central budget act in order to achieve the deficit target of 2.5% of GDP.

The section on macroeconomy contains the government’s December forecast, predicting 0.5% GDP growth for 2012 compared to the earlier forecast of 1.5%.