Hungary's cash-based general government budget, excluding municipalities, posted a deficit of HUF 858.8bn (EUR 2.75bn) in January to August 2014, accounting for 87.2% of the full-year target, the economy ministry informed in a statement, confirming its preliminary estimate. The gap narrowed by 10.7% from a year earlier.

The ministry attributed the improvement to the accelerating economic growth, the sounder employment situation and the extra revenues owing to the operation of on-line cash registers. Moreover, these factors are expected to have larger positive effects in the coming months, hence improving the fiscal position by the end of the year.

The central government budget had a HUF 1,053.1bn deficit in the first eights months of 2014, equalling to 109.5% of the annul plan. The extrabudgetary accounts, on the other hand, registered a surplus of HUF 44.2bn, down 30% on the year. The social security funds had a surplus of HUF 150.1bn, also declining by 27.3% y/y.

In August alone, the cash-based general government budget, excluding municipalities, produced a deficit of HUF 7.4bn, down by 93% y/y.

The cash-based general government deficit stood at HUF 929.2bn in 2013, accounting for 82.6% of the annual plan. Hungary’s general government sector's deficit stood at HUF 672bn in 2013, equal to 2.2% of the GDP, according to preliminary figures reported by the statistics office to Eurostat under the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP). According to the data, the government has met its deficit target, which was set at 2.7% of GDP. The government targets an ESA95 deficit of 2.9% of GDP for 2014.