There’s been no date set for the resumption of discussions between the International Monetary Fund and the government of Hungary, as speculation increases over the next step of prime minister Viktor Orban. At a press conference in Washington last night, IMF representatives described the last set of discussions in July as constructive, but a Hungarian news server is reporting that IMF demands made at that time in a letter have not been answered by Budapest. Among the most important of these was that the country’s central bank be made exempt from the new financial transactions tax to be placed on banks.
Cabinet members are faced with the difficulty of “quadrupling” tax revenues in 2013 and allegedly asked tax collection officials to start “brainstorming”. There’s also concern at the IMF that next year’s budget won’t meet its requirements, but the cabinet appears unwilling to change it.
