The government expects the economy to start recovering next year, with growth of above 4% and a budget deficit below 3%, a finance ministry official said in an interview with public radio.
Whereas the budget deficit is likely to be 7-9% of GDP this year on the back of additional spending on protection measures, a gradual turnaround is probable in 2021, state secretary Péter Benő Banai told Kossuth Rádió. Around 500 billion forints (EUR 1.4bn) will be spent on measures to protect the economy in the second half of the year.
Hungary’s economic prospects are largely tied to European developments, he said. As yet, the 2021 budget is uncertain, and much depends on the course of the coronavirus in the country and the epidemiological situation in export markets. The government is monitoring these developments closely and is ready to respond accordingly, he added. He noted that Hungary is the only EU country that has reduced its public debt as a share of GDP every year since 2011, so it is well placed to handle temporarily higher deficits.
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