Hungary should stick to its budget deficit target and the country can't afford to delay efforts to narrow the shortfall, European Union and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said.
According to an interview published in Vasarnapi Hirek weekly, Rehn said Hungary cannot diverge from the path when other EU nations are putting efforts to narrow their budget shortfalls.
In July, the International Monetary Fund and the European Union suspended talks with Hungary on disagreement regarding the country's economic programme.
The government had announced it will not implement further austerity measures and the country will not need further IMF aid. The Hungarian government has set a budget deficit target of 3.8% of GDP for this year.
The country's central bank is of the view that the deficit would exceed 2011 and 2012 targets if the government does not take further measures. It foresees 2010 budget deficit at 4.3% of GDP, up from 4% recorded in 2009. However, the shortfall is expected to narrow to 4.1% of GDP in 2011 and to 3.7% of GDP in 2012. The government aims to bring down the shortfall to 2.8% of GDP next year.
Hungary's economy stagnated in the second quarter after expanding 0.6% in the first three months of the year, official figures showed earlier in the month.
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