Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's government would like to avoid recapitalizing the MNB as it struggles to close a huge budget deficit.

The government has already amended the rules for compensating the central bank's losses, allowing a five-year period to cover them.

Comments by Gergely Gulyás, head of the Prime Minister's Office, Minister of Finance Mihály Varga and MNB Deputy Governor Barnabás Virág indicate that the government and the central bank are looking for a legal solution that would allow the MNB to operate with permanently negative capital, the left-leaning daily newspaper Népszava commented.