Hungarian economy in 'grave situation'

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=129117§ionid=351020606



A senior Hungarian government official has accused the country's previous administration of manipulating budget figures to misrepresent the economy as strong.

The comments made by Peter Szijjarto, a spokesman for new Prime Minister Viktor Orban, raised fears about the state of Hungary's economy.

Some Hungarian officials say the European country is moving towards a 'Greek-style' economic crisis.

They have warned that the country's budget deficit may reach 7.5 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) this year from 4 percent in 2009. Greece's deficit is forecast at 9.3 percent of the GDP this year.

Szijjarto further warned that the Hungarian economy is in a "very grave situation."

"The size of the problems in the Hungarian economy render patching up and austerity measures ineffectual. We now have an excellent opportunity to reorganize the Hungarian economy," he said.

The global financial crisis hit the country in 2008 to force it to approach the International Monetary Fund for $25 billion in an emergency loan.

"Fundamentally, Hungary's economy is nowhere near the debt level of Greece, and it has more than enough money to service its debt, while I don't think there is a data integrity problem," Peter Rona, a leading economist, told The New York Times.

The premier also appointed an economic fact-finding commission to launch a probe into the health of the economy.

The government says it will publish the results of the commission's investigation this weekend.