Thanks to higher tax revenues and prudent fiscal policy, the general government budget deficit in the first quarter of 2015 was lower than one year ago.

Favourable processes are expected to remain in place, as the Ministry for National Economy plans to upwardly revise the current 2.5 percent GDP growth estimate to 3 percent, Minister of State for Public Finances Péter Benő Banai told public broadcaster M1.

The Ministry published detail budget data yesterday. These show that in March 2015 the deficit of the central sub sector the state budget was HUF 226bn, while the February shortfall totalled HUF 256.9bn. The deficit of the first quarter was HUF 536.7bn, 61 percent of total estimate, against HUF 701.2bn in the first quarter of 2014.

Due to the accounting of revenues and expenditures, deficit figures are not time-proportional; the amount of expenditures exceeds that of revenues in the first half of the year. The ESA deficit target remains unchanged at 2.4 percent of GDP.

The central sub sector closed the first quarter with a deficit of HUF 558.3, while Social Security Funds and Extra Budgetary State Funds posted surpluses of HUF 10.7bn and some HUF 10.9bn, respectively.

At the end of March 2015, revenues of the central sub sector increased by HUF 111.5bn year-on-year, while expenditures were HUF 126.3bn lower.

(Ministry for National Economy)