Peter Oszko, Hungary’s finance minister designate, highlighted boosting employment and cutting state debt as priorities of the incoming government of Gordon Bajnai, at a parliamentary committee hearing on Wednesday.
Oszko said reducing employee-related burdens will help small and medium-size enterprises to grow — a top priority for the new government.
Other priorities over the next year include taking the first steps to reform taxes and bringing the budget towards greater balance, he added.
Commenting on an earlier reform plan by the Reform Alliance, a group of experts of which Oszko was a member, he said that the Alliance had calculated with a recession of 3 percent of gross domestic product for 2009 but his own view was that the contraction would be bigger.
Analysts now see the economy contracting by 5-6 percent of GDP this year.
The committee supported Oszko’s appointment as finance minister with 16 votes against 13, with the main opposition Fidesz party and allied Christian Democrats voicing their disapproval.
“The new government considers Hungary as a business venture [...] disregarding the voice of the people,” committee head Mihaly Varga, delegated by Fidesz, said following the hearing.