Hungary’s cash flow-based budget deficit, excluding local councils, came to 1,043.6 billion forints (EUR 2.9bn) at the end of April, narrowing from the previous month on a 100.5 billion forint April surplus, preliminary data released by the finance ministry show.
The central budget deficit came to 890.0 billion forints at the end of April, the social insurance funds were 139.1 billion in the red and separate state funds showed a 14.5 billion forint gap. Spending on pandemic defence exceeded 398.8 billion forints by end-April, the ministry said. Other expenditures it noted included 86.1 billion forints in grants to boost competitiveness amid the coronavirus crisis, 60.2 billion forints for railway developments, 59.4 billion for public transport programmes, 57.9 billion for road developments, 42.2 billion for projects undertaken in the framework of the Modern Cities Programme and 37.5 billion forints for tourism developments. The ministry noted that wage support for sectors hardest hit by pandemic restrictions had been extended through May.
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