At the debate of the draft budget, the Fiscal Council (KT) called for stronger and swifter measures to reduce the budget deficit and public debt ratios so that fiscal balance is restored more rapidly.
Árpád Kovács, the council’s head, told lawmakers that measures were needed to prevent the economy from overheating. He said that at the same time the deficit level in the draft was justified for the time being in order to secure the government’s aims of relaunching the economy. He warned, however, that big increases in household consumption and private sector investment activity combined with stimulus measures could cause the economy to overheat, pushing up inflation and putting the external balance at risk.
The head of the State Audit Office said the budget would build on last year’s economic protection measures while looking forward to areas underpinning the country’s long-term recovery with modernising elements. László Domokos said that at the same time sticking to the rule on consistently lowering the public debt and improving the budget balance would gain Hungary significant competitive advantage even in the short term. Whereas further investments were likely, he added, any new waves of the coronavirus epidemic could affect budget feasibility.
hungarymatters.hu
