The ministry noted that the deficit had reached just 713.7 billion forints in the base period and attributed the difference to “disparate developments” related to EU funding.

“Till now, the budget has transferred more than 500 billion forints of higher payments in the interest of ensuring the implementation of domestic developments and avoiding a possible loss of resources,” it explained.

Hungary’s government provided bridge financing from the budget for EU-supported projects during a suspension of EU funding between April and September.

Brussels had suspended the funding because of problems with the selection process for projects.

Banai said the better part of the talks on the funding could drag on into 2016, but would eventually end with a go-ahead for the transfer of the monies by next year, at the latest.

Under EU accounting rules, the funding can still be booked as revenue, even though it has not arrived, thus it will not impact the 2.4% of GDP deficit target for this year, he added.

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