Hungary's will meet its goal and the Maastricht criteria of reducing its public sector deficit to below 3% of gross domestic product, and will join the euro zone in 2010, as planned, Finance Ministry state secretary Tamás Katona said on Thursday.Katona's announcement comes after a European Commission report, which said Hungary would overshoot its deficit targets.
Katona told a press conference that the views of the ministry and the Commission did not differ fundamentally, but while Hungary examines results dynamically, the EU body bases its findings on static analyses.
This year's deficit will be very close to 3.6% of GDP or 6.1% when motorway spending is added in line with an earlier Eurostat ruling, Katona said.
He reiterated that next year's deficit target of 4.7% of GDP would also be met. If the cost of the new military airplanes, which Hungary is buying from SAAB AB's Gripen, are also slapped to the gap, the budget shortfall will reach 5.2% of GDP next year.
Source: Portfolio online financial journal
Click here for the source
21.10.2005