Hungary Jan-Feb gen govt deficit confirmed at 40.3% of full-year target

Hungary had a cashflow-based general government deficit, excluding local councils, of HUF 339.5 billion in the first two months of 2013, or 40.3% of the HUF 841.8 billion full-year target, the National Economy Ministry said, confirming a first reading released on March 7, on Thursday.
    In February alone, the general government, excluding local councils - the central government - posted a HUF 337.0 billion deficit.
    The figures compare to a deficit of HUF 393.9 billion in February 2012 and a deficit of HUF 286.6 billion in the first two months of last year. The ministry noted that tax and other changes make the two years not directly comparable.
    The position of subsystems within the central government was also unchanged from the first reading, with the central budget posting a deficit of HUF 451.1 billion, the social insurance funds posting a HUF 62 billion surplus and the separate state funds having a HUF 49.6 billion surplus in the first two months.
    Within the general government, central budget revenues reached 13.8% of the annual target, falling behind the 16.7% pro-rata rate, while central budget expenditure was practically at the pro-rata target. 
    Except for the personal income tax, two-month revenue from the biggest taxes were behind the pro-rata target. Revenue from several new taxes in effect since January 1 arrived first in February, and some of them are paid only quarterly or half-yearly. 
    Revenue from the financial transaction duty, introduced this year was paid first in February, and totaled HUF 13.4 billion, about half of the monthly equivalent of the HUF 301 billion annual target. 
    The first monthly revenue from the two new small business taxes introduced as part of the government's job protection plan totalled a mere HUF 2.3 billion against the combined HUF 204 billion annual target.
    The new insurance tax, also due first in February, brought in HUF 4.9 billion or 17.8% of the annual target.
    The new tax on utility lines, with targeted annual income of HUF 60 billion, will be due first in March, then in September.
    The per-minute tax on telephone calls and text messages introduced last July brought in HUF 6.1 billion of the HUF 44 billion annual target in the first two months.
    Of the biggest taxes, only personal income tax proceeds were ahead of pro-rata target, with revenue of HUF 283.5 billion or 18.9% in the first two months.
    Two-month revenue from VAT, at HUF 441.4 billion or 14.9% of the planned annual total, was below pro-rata. The same applied to excise duties which generated HUF 126.3 billion or 13.3% of the annual target in January-February.
    Two-month revenue of the social insurance funds, at 17.7% of the annual total, was ahead while their spending was slightly below the pro-rata target, with the National Pension Fund at and the Health Fund below its respective two-month appropriations. Among expenditure, spending on sick pay, at HUF 9.4 billion, was over target, and spending on drug subsidies, at HUF 49.7 billion, exceeded the two-month equivalent of the yearly target.