BUDAPEST, May 5. /TASS/. Hungary’s budget deficit could reach 6.8% of GDP by the end of the year, Tisza Party leader Peter Magyar, who will soon become Prime Minister of Hungary, announced.
He noted that the government had to significantly revise its budget deficit forecast downward. He also said that he had learned of plans by the outgoing cabinet led by Viktor Orban to conclude and finance new government contracts, which could negatively impact the budget.
"We have also learned that, according to recent calculations by the Orban government, even without major new spending, the state budget deficit will rise to 6.8% of GDP this year. This is significantly higher than the official deficit target of 3.9%, as well as the government's latest forecast, which was raised to 5%," Magyar wrote on his Facebook page (banned in Russia, belongs to the Meta corporation, which is considered extremist in Russia).
"I call on the heads of ministries not to take on any new obligations until the Tisza government is formed and to make only those payments necessary for normal operations. Otherwise, they will have to shoulder more than just political responsibility," Magyar warned.
The Orban government denied Magyar's claim of additional spending.
"His statement is untrue. The government has only authorized the payment of amounts budgeted for before the elections and has expressly prohibited the incurrence of new obligations the day after the elections," said Gergely Gulyas, head of the Prime Minister's Office. He asked the Tisza leader and members of the future government "not to complicate the process of power transfer in the country with false rumors."
However, Gulyas did not deny that Hungary's state budget deficit could reach a concerning 6.8% of GDP this year.
The Tisza Party won the parliamentary elections on April 12, securing 141 of 199 seats in parliament. The ruling coalition, consisting of Orban's Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Union party and its junior partners, the Christian Democrats, will go into opposition. One of the main reasons for its defeat in the election was the country's unfavorable economic situation.
Magyar is expected to be elected prime minister at the first session of the new parliament on May 9.