Varga ditches deficit target, but says reserves could keep gap under 3 pc

Hungary will not be able to achieve its 1.0 percent of GDP deficit target this year because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, but the goal remains to keep the gap under the 3 percent threshold stipulated by the European Union's Maastricht criteria, Finance Minister Mihaly Varga said on public radio on Thursday. Varga said on Kossuth Radio that the budget has more than 400 billion forints (EUR 1.2bn) in reserves, leaving sufficient room to manage a 3 perent deficit. But if the economy needs to be restarted, the deficit could be higher, he added.