Hungary continues to need the support of the International Monetary Fund but will no longer draw on its USD 25.1 million dollar IMF stand-by loan, Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai said in Washington after talks with IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Wednesday, local time.
The prime minister said Hungary’s more stable conditions, decreasing interest rates, appreciating currency and return to the euro bond markets demonstrated that the country was pursuing the right policies.
The unused loans have been put into reserves, so they will be available to the next government until next October, he said.
“The IMF threw a life-belt to the drowning Hungarian economy. Thanks to that belt, and our hard work, we have swam onto shore. From now on we will use the IMF loan as a hiking rope rather than a life belt to have a safety device at hand if we slip for any reason,” he said.
Bajnai said that Hungary’s 2010 budget, which set a deficit target of 3.8 percent of GDP, illustrated that Hungary had “returned to policies of common sense”.
Strauss-Kahn said that Hungary’s next government should pursue an austere, future-oriented economic policy based on common sense, too.
Asked if he was concerned that the next government might deviate from the current economic programme, he said that the IMF was in the business of economic and not political forecasting.
Strauss-Kahn added, however, that “what has been done until now is good and I do believe any government after the election will go on with policies which will be very close to what has been done before.”
Hiking rope or rope to hang ourselves with?
And as for deficit target, we can expect that work of fiction to be revised.
Million or 25.1B, and USD or EUR? Wasn’t it 20B EUR http://www.realdeal.hu/20091117/hungary-not-to-call-down-next-scheduled-installment-of-imf-bailout-loan...
Was it a lifebelt? Or a seatbelt, or a safety vest?
This current administration have dealt the country a triple dis-service:-
It was their party who failed to address the issues 7 years ago;
stifled debate on this very subject 3+ years ago, and most recently,
refused to first explain to the people what the choices would be, let them vote, and guarantee them that there’d be a party in power for a sufficient duration to fix things.
Strauss-Kahn apparently feels infallible (like Nigel Lawson just before Sterling exited from the ERM). But even the Almighty knows that to get people to do something, they have feel ownership. Telling a future FinMin and gov’t how they will have to behave, as well as the electorate that our current gov’t knows better (after such a lousy track record, and having mortgaged our future even more so) should ring alarm bells not just here, but back in The City too.
It’s rich that S-K thinks the current policies are common sense. They’re firefighting bandages… The big problems are systemic & internal: like a tax wedge of 63% that kicks in at 7K EUR. That’s not common sense. It’s like driving a car with the handbrake on. It wastes the effort of our most talented; or drives them away. The current regime hasn’t addressed that, and until some administration does, there’ll never be enough tax money here (nor talent) to pay back the debt incurred. Why should that be perpetuated? Please Strauss-Con, if you’re reading this, enlighten me.
Economic statistics that bear no relevance to the deep and depressing panorama of Hungarian life at the moment. Visit Veszprém, Siofok, Szekesfehérvár,
and the outlying villages and see all the smiling faces?
Bajnai should call the election now and book his flight to the Bahamas around springtime.
He, and his brigade of coconuts, will no longer be required.
Dint a former hungarian primeminister admit a few years ago that he lied to the Sheeple? he admitted the Government was bust. Hungary needs free market capitalism and some religion. It needs to eliminate the central government. Yes, i said eliminate. This country needs about 10 mayors total for thw whole nation. Maybe a national sales tax of 5%. Thats it.
I need to retract a bit, as I confused Strauss-Kahn with Veres. However, the sentiment remains; as apparently it does with others commenting here, there’s no buy in from the people.
Hungary needs a new government with a leader and cabinet that can tackle its ever-mounting problems.
Read this from BT:
“Two-thirds of Hungarians say that they are worse off today than before the change of regime and are dissatisfied with the current functioning of democracy. According to the vast majority of Hungarians, the outlook is bleak and the country’s economic situation is dismal; and if they had to choose between a steady economy and a well-functioning democracy, then they would choose the former by an overwhelming quotient of 72-20.”
The simple truth is that Hungary has not kept pace with its near neighbors and lags behind in every area of social, economic, and political life.
Things will not get better under the next Fidesz
incumbents because they are a one-trick-pony like their protagonists the MSZP.
Unemployment and job prospects are abysmal. The rot is widespread throughout Hungary in every corner of political, social, and economic life. Bureaucracy is woeful at local and central level.
Even Bajnai wants to desert the sinking ship.
Anticipation is better than realisation. Hungary needs reform and regulation. NOW.
decrease the size of the federal government to 5%. eliminate
income tax and employment tax. endorse christianity. totally
deregulate the economy. this is the only hope. it is no guarantee.
get tough on roma. you dont work, you dont eat.
Too bad your Christian values don’t extend to the Roma deng feng.
Job creation schemes and, education programs that target the job market rather than academic piffle that benefits nobody is the way forward. All the IMF/EU money has been wasted because of the difficulty that small-medium size businesses have in accessing the money due to the huge amount of bureaucracy involved.
I get the general feeling that things are going to change for the better in Hungary.
We all need to continue to highlight the inefficient and corrupt areas of social and political life in this great country to achieve the improvements that are so badly needed.