Hungary: ‘Disastrous school report from the IMF and the Commission’

According to the International Monetary Fund, the economic outlook for Hungary will remain „difficult“ in 2013. On January 28 in Budapest, the IMF concluded a two-week joint mission with the Commission to analyse the state of Hungary’s public finances, with a view to granting a loan for €15bn, which was solicited by Budapest in the summer of 2012.

The IMF acknowledged a „significant“ reduction in Hungary’s budget deficit, but remarked that the means used to achieve it — stopgap measures like tax hikes for individuals and companies, especially foreign companies, — had damaged the climate for investment.