„Providing Brussels takes only the numbers into consideration, Hungary should exit the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) this year”, Minister of State for Economic Strategy Zoltán Cséfalvay said on Hungarian TV channel M1's MA reggel show.

Zoltán Cséfalvay stressed that, according to the methodology observed by the EU for the EDP, the deficit of the general government sector in 2012 was HUF 566.7bn, which corresponds to 2 percent of GDP.

Hungary is also obliged to demonstrate that it can keep the deficit below 3 percent in the long term, the Minister of State said, adding that the European Commission anticipates a deficit of 3.4 percent for 2013 in Hungary which stands in contrast to the Government’s estimate of 2.7 percent.

As Zoltán Cséfalvay explained, the discrepancy is due to the difference between the Government’s growth expectation of 0.9 percent and that of the Commission which anticipates lower growth and therefore lower revenues. As issues still under debate, Zoltán Cséfalvay mentioned revenues from the electronic toll system and the linking of cash registers to the tax authority, emphasizing that the Government has already taken the necessary steps to put these measures in place and therefore the risks singled out by the Commission are manageable.

He also mentioned that the series of reforms implemented in the past two-and-a half years will result in stability and consolidation, which in turn will boost investments.

(Ministry for National Economy)