BUDAPEST, June 29. /TASS/. Hungary’s new government is examining financing issues for the construction of the Paks-2 nuclear power plant, a Rosatom project, as part of its efforts to bring order to the state budget, Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar said.
"We are reviewing the operating principles of the National Bank of Hungary, the activities of private equity funds, and the Budapest-Belgrade railway project. We are analyzing the financing arrangements for the Paks-2 nuclear power plant project and state asset sales," said Magyar in parliament; his speech was broadcast on the parliament’s website.
The previous government led by Viktor Orban left the state budget "in a terrible state" and with a deficit that could approach 7% of GDP by the end of the year, he noted. Under European Union rules, this figure must not exceed the 3% mark.
Magyar believes this situation arose because previous administrations squandered budget funds on questionable programs and the financing of various costly projects whose effectiveness is open to question. The current government has cited the Budapest-Belgrade high-speed railway built with the participation of Chinese companies as one such example.