As a result of the government’s responsible fiscal management, public finances continue to be characterised by calculability and stability. The central subsystem closed the first ten months of this year with a deficit of 575.4 billion forints (EUR 1.73 million), which represents 57.6 percent of the annual target. In addition to real economy processes, this indicates that the 1.8 percent of GDP target deficit, calculated according to EU methodology, will also be achieved.

Today, over 4.5 million people are employed in Hungary, parallel to which earnings have also increased dynamically, by over 10 percent. The tax cuts and tax benefits are leaving more and more money in the wallets of Hungarian families, which is also leading to an increase in public consumption. The government’s economy-whitening measures are also proving their successfulness month by month. As a result of the above, with relation to the main tax types, 88.4 percent of the annual VAT target, 83.9 percent of the personal income tax target, 81.4 percent of social contributions taxes, and pension, healthcare insurance and job market contributions, and 84.9 percent of the excise tax target, were realised in the first ten months of 2019.

The government is succeeding in providing the funding required for its family and economic policy measures while maintaining the stability of pubic finances. The national budget received a total of 933 billion forints (EUR 2.8 billion) in European Union income until the end of October 2019, while the level of funding to beneficiaries was 1239.5 billion forints (EUR 3.73 billion). Parallel to this, major domestic funding is also being made available to, amongst others, the refurbishing of the country’s road and rail networks, the development projects of the Modern Cities Programme and Modern Village Programme, and investment projects aimed at job creation and more efficient production on the part of large enterprises. The first four elements of the Family Protection Action Plan have been available since July, in addition to which several measures included in the Economy Protection Action Plan are also already in effect, while the good performance of the economy is enabling the government to once again pay a pension premium this November.

The deficit of the central subsystem of public finances was 271.8 billion forints (EUR 817.5 million) in October, the central budget deficit was 534.3 billion forints (EUR 1.61 billion) during the first ten months of the year, separate state funds achieved a surplus of 80.8 billion forint (EUR 243 million), and the social security fund closed the first ten months of 2019 with a deficit of 121.9 billion (EUR 366.6 million) forints.

(Ministry of Finance)