BUDAPEST, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Hungary's budget deficit came in at 2 percent, nearly half a percent lower than the expected 2.4 percent, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on Wednesday.
The statement, which came following the publication of preliminary figures, said that the deficit was 388.3 billion forints (1.39 billion U.S. dollars) lower than in the previous year.
The favorable data is the result of robust GDP growth, that is roughly the double of the EU average and falls in line with the CEE region overall.
"The bullish economic performance has not gone unnoticed. London-based emerging markets economists at Morgan Stanley also reported positive data, upgrading their GDP forecasts to 4.6 percent for 2018 and 3.8 percent for 2019," government State secretary for international communications Zoltan Kovacs commented.
Following a turnaround in 2013, the Hungarian economy has entered a growth trajectory. As a result, overall growth in recent years may be regarded as significant in international comparison.
"The data indicates that Hungary's GDP has increased by 25 percent compared to the early 2010 level, and is over 18 percent higher than in 2014. Growth is expected to continue to be around 4 percent in the upcoming years," according to the Ministry of Finance.
Final figures for 2018 will be available in March.
