Hungary's economic situation is stable and recent comments about a possible default were "unfortunate," the government said, pledging to stick to the budget deficit goal approved by the country's creditors.
"Any comparison with countries that have much higher credit default swap ratings than Hungary is unfortunate," State Secretary Mihaly Varga told reporters on Saturday in Budapest. "The comments that have been made about this issue are exaggerated and if they come from colleagues that's unfortunate."
Comments from Hungarian officials over the previous two days sparked concern that Europe's sovereign debt crisis may be spreading to eastern Europe. That helped weaken the euro, pushed Hungary's currency to a 12-month low and borrowing costs rose the most since October 2008, when the country needed an international bailout to avert a default.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who took power a week ago, sought permission for a wider budget deficit from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, which led the euro 20 billion ($24 billion) bailout for Hungary. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso this week rebuffed Orban, urging him to continue fiscal consolidation.
'Pretty big change'
The government will aim to meet the deficit target of 3.8 per cent of gross domestic product, which is "attainable" through changes to spending and revenue plans, Varga said on Saturday. Orban called a three-day emergency cabinet meeting to hammer out the action plan.
"It's a pretty big change from one day to the next," said Gyorgy Barcza, an economist at KBC Groep NV in Budapest, said in a phone interview. "It's positive, but local assets may not recover quickly because the new government now has a credibility deficit it needs to overcome and that takes time."
The Hungarian forint fell 4.8 per cent against the euro the past two days, the worst performance among 177 currencies tracked by Bloomberg. The extra yield investors demand to own Hungary's debt over US Treasuries yesterday rose 149 basis points, or 1.49 percentage point, to 468 basis points, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s EMBI Global Index.
EU and IMF leaders on Saturday praised the work of former Prime Minister Bajnai's administration in reducing the budget deficit to 4 per cent of GDP last year from 9.3 per cent in 2006.
'Serious progress'
IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said he was "surprised" by the Orban government's comments earlier this week. EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said Hungary has made "serious progress" and suggestions of a possible default are "misleading." Both spoke after a gathering of finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 nations in Busan, South Korea on Saturday.
Hungary's ability to finance its debt "isn't a question," Varga said. The issue is the size of the deficit, Varga said. The fact finding-committee found miscalculations "by orders of magnitude" in this year's budget, he said, declining to give the size of the potential overrun.
Tax revenue will fall short of estimates and spending will exceed the plan in areas such as social security, at municipalities and transportation companies. Items including debt at state-run companies also boost the deficit, he said.
"If nothing is changed in the budget, the planned budget deficit target can't be met," he said. "There are a number of tricks in this budget. These numbers are not factual. The government of Gordon Bajnai lied to the country. It didn't present the real situation in a credible, detailed manner."
'Slim chance'
Varga, a founding member of Orban's Fidesz party who served as finance minister in the premier's previous administration, said he persuaded the prime minister to try to meet the deficit target. Varga, 45, also served as chairman of parliament's budget committee from 2002 to 2010.
