Hungary pledges more reforms after IMF, EU demands
Hungary's government said Sunday it would plough on with deficit-slashing reforms demanded by the IMF and EU, and aimed to become Central Europe's most stable country "as quickly as possible".
This was after both bodies said after a mission to Budapest this month on financial aid that the country had to do more to reduce its public deficit.
"The Hungarian government will continue the policy of structural reform in the areas qualified most important by our partners such as the fiscal system, public health and public transport," Economy Minister Gyorgy Matolcsy said.
"The goal of the government is that Hungary becomes as quickly as possible one of the most competitive and stable countries in Central Europe," he said in a statement.
Negotiations with the European Union and International Monetary Fund would continue, he said.
The IMF head of mission in Hungary, Christoph Rosenberg, said Saturday the country had to make "difficult decisions" to cut its public deficit, in particular in slashing spending and restructuring public enterprises.
he targets was to reduce the deficit to 3.8 percent of gross domestic product in 2010 and less than three percent in 2011 remain appropriate "but supplementary measures are going to have to be taken to reach them," he said.
Rosenberg said in a statement that measures to increase revenue, such as a planned tax on banks and the financial sector, had to be complemented by "lasting" cuts in spending.
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