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Hungary’s 2021 budget: Finance minister expects healthy economic growth of 4.8 pc next year
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The government expects healthy economic growth of 4.8 percent next year and moderate inflation of 3 percent, Finance Minister Mihály Varga told lawmakers in remarks opening the budget debate on Wednesday.
The deficit target is 2.9 percent of GDP, just below the Maastricht threshold, while reserves built into the budget draft provide a ‘safety net’ of more than half a percent of national income, he said. Also, the public debt is set to decline further, the minister added.
Next year’s budget, Varga said, contains a health insurance and epidemiological fund as well as an economic protection fund. It is also geared towards the protection of families, supporting economic developments and guaranteeing Hungary’s security, he added.
The head of the State Audit Office (ÁSZ) told lawmakers in parliament that
the 2021 budget bill was suitable for relaunching the Hungarian economy.
László Domokos said the macroeconomic forecast contained in the bill was a good basis for planning the budget, adding that it complied with the rule on reducing the public debt and other legal requirements.
He said Hungary’s economy and public finances had been healthy when the coronavirus epidemic emerged, so activity was likely to resume in most sectors other than those deeply integrated into the world economy such as global trade and tourism.
Domokos said
Hungary’s economy would perform better in 2021 than in 2019, but it was unlikely to do as well as originally planned.
Outlining the budget numbers, Varga said almost 2,295 billion forints (EUR 6.6bn) will be available for family support, up 67 billion year on year. Pension benefits, at 3,907 billion forints, will be worth 327 billion more than this year, he said, adding that the money for phasing in the 13-month pension was also available.