Hungary’s government has set its sights on meeting the fiscal criteria for adopting the Euro as its currency by 2030, with reducing the country’s budget deficit described as an important step toward that goal in the amended preamble to the 2026 budget submitted to lawmakers, the Budapest Business Journal reports.
The revised budget projects a general government deficit of HUF 7.110 trillion, with total expenditures of HUF 49.026 trillion and revenues of HUF 41.916 trillion.
The deficit is now expected to reach 7.5 per cent of GDP in 2026, substantially higher than the original budget target of 3.7 per cent. However, the government claims the deficit would have reached 8.3 per cent without the changes introduced following the change in government.
The amended preamble attributes the deterioration in the fiscal outlook to a number of factors, including campaign-related spending, unfavourable state contracts, unchecked and wasteful expenditure, European court rulings concerning illegal tax measures, and weaker-than-expected economic growth. Together, these factors are said to have caused a 3.1 percentage-point deviation from the original deficit target.
The document sharply criticizes the previous Fidesz–KDNP government, arguing that its fiscal measures were ‘sacrificed on the altar of political campaigning’ and left the original 2026 budget ‘completely detached from reality’.
The government also expects Hungary’s state debt to rise to 77.5 per cent of GDP by the end of 2026, compared to 74.6 per cent in 2025. According to the proposal, however, the debt ratio could return to a declining path after 2026.
The government’s stated objective of bringing the deficit under control is presented as part of the longer-term effort to meet the fiscal requirements necessary for the adoption of the Euro as the state currency by 2030.
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