Gov't puts 2022 GDP growth at 4.3%, budget gap at 4.9%

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Hungary's government puts this year's GDP growth at 4.3% in its updated Convergence Program prepared for the European Commission, according to a report by state news wire MTI.
Weeks before the start of the war in Ukraine, the Finance Ministry had put 2022 GDP growth at 5.9%.
The report shows the general government deficit narrowing to 4.9% of GDP in 2022, the same reduced target announced by the government late in 2021, after it decided on postponing some investments to keep the gap around the expected average for European Union member states.
State debt, relative to GDP, is set to decline to 76.1% at year-end.
The government puts average annual inflation for this year at 8.9%.
The report shows the current-account deficit widening from 0.5% of GDP in 2021 to 2.6% of GDP in 2022, before returning to surpluses from 2023.
Hungary's balance of trade in goods and services is expected to run a deficit equivalent to 1.9% of GDP in 2022.
In a post on Facebook on Friday, Finance Minister Mihály Varga noted that the government had stuck to the deficit targets it announced late last year in the updated Convergence Program.
"The global economic environment has changed and the number of challenges has grown, but the goals of disciplined fiscal policy remain unchanged," he said.
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