General Government Deficit at 90.2% of Full-Year Target

At the end of May, Hungary's cash-flow based general government deficit reached HUF 3,806.3 billion, 90.2% of the full-year target, a detailed report released by the Finance Ministry on Monday shows.

As MTI reports, the central budget deficit reached HUF 3,694.8 billion and the social security funds were HUF 182.4 billion in the red, but separate state funds had a HUF 70.9 billion surplus. For the month of May alone, Hungary had a general government surplus of HUF 43.5 billion.

The detailed data show expenditures reached HUF 21,010.5 billion, 48.0% of the full-year target, while revenue came to HUF 17,204.2 billion, 43.5% of the target for the year.

Central budget revenue from taxes and contributions increased 6.0% in January-May from the same period of last year. In May, revenue from corporate tax was down by HUF 55.6 billion from a year earlier. PIT revenue reached HUF 2,164 billion in January-May, HUF 111 billion higher than in the base period.

Revenue from VAT fell by HUF 55.4 billion in May compared to the same month a year earlier. In January-May, revenue from VAT rose 4.0% to HUF 3,444.4 billion. Transfers of European Union funding came to HUF 523.9 billion in May alone.

On the expenditure side, spending of budget institutions reached HUF 7,948.2 billion, 58.7% of the full-year target. Subsidies for utilities companies added up to HUF 582.9 billion, 61.5% of the target. Spending on state investments came to HUF 334.5 billion, 68.8% of the full-year target.

Interest expenditures reached HUF 1,405.7 billion, 42.4% of the full-year target.

Central budget debt climbed by HUF 2,556.6 billion in January-May, lifted by HUF 2,762.9 billion of net forint issues and HUF 1,359.2 billion of net FX issues. The stronger forint shaved HUF 1,561.2 billion off the debt.