Hungary posted a budget deficit of HUF 50 billion in August (excluding local governments), which pushed the cumulated deficit up to HUF 1,544 billion, Portfolio.hu has learned. This corresponds to 130% of the full-year target, the National Economy Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. The most important part of the release is that the ministry revised its Q3 budget balance estimate downward by some HUF 130 billion.

The economy ministry revised its prognosis for the third quarter upward by HUF 129 billion to HUF 574 billion. The previous estimate for a HUF 445 billion Q3 gap was published only two weeks ago.

At the same time the surplus projected for the fourth quarter was raised by exactly that much, which means the ministry expects HUF 129 bn revenues to be generated in Q4 instead of Q3.

Based on the new quarterly prognoses we can deduct that the ministry forecasts HUF 65 bn deficit for September, while two weeks ago it still projected a surplus for the last month of Q3.

The ministry explained the change by saying that revenues from the Pension Reform and Debt Reduction Fund are expected to be generated in full in the fourth quarter instead of Q3 and Q4 as previously expected, the Hungarian economy newswire Portfolio.hu writes.