Finance Minister Peter Oszko told parliament’s budget committee on Tuesday that the Hungarian government will have called down EUR 14bn of the International Monetary Fund’s EUR 20bn loan by the end of June, utilizing EUR 8bn of the called-down sum and placing the remaining EUR 6bn in reserves.
In response to a question, Mr Oszko told the committee that the government has not been in talks with the IMF regarding further credit, noting that the government’s aim is to avoid asking for more credit.
The finance minister confirmed that the government expects GDP contraction of 6.7pc, a government budget deficit of 3.9pc and inflation of 4.5pc in 2009.
The IMF, the EU and the World Bank approved Hungary a combined EUR 20bn standby credit last autumn when the financial crisis hit Hungary.
Mr Oszko said that the government will have used EUR 6.5bn of the EUR 8bn in IMF loans called down by the end of June to refinance Hungary’s government debt, while banks received the remaining EUR 1.5bn in the form of capital support or loans.
The finance minister said that the draft of the newest letter of intent with the IMF stipulates the that a centrally collected, value-based property tax would be a rational element of Hungary’s tax system. Mr Oszko noted that the final form of the government’s letter of intent with the IMF will be made public over the coming days.