BUDAPEST, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Hungary's opposition has met with international lenders to discuss the country's financial bailout deal, which they will likely renegotiate if they win elections due in April, a senior policymaker said on Sunday.
Mihaly Varga, whose Fidesz party is widely projected to score a landslide victory over the ruling Socialists, said that they had met with International Monetary Fund officials but put off further talks until after the elections.
'We have agreed to wait until after the elections,' Varga told a Sunday night talk show on national television MTV.
'I consider it most likely... that we will have to start negotiations (with international lenders) right after a government change,' he said. Hungary became the first European Union member to ask for an international bailout in October 2008. The country avoided a default and an interim technocrat government introduced deep spending cuts, but structural reforms are still to come, analysts have said. Varga reiterated earlier warnings that Hungary's 2010 budget did not account for items that could boost the deficit to as much as 7.5 percent of gross domestic product from the current plan of 3.8 percent, a cornerstone condition of the IMF deal.
'This 7 to 7.5 percent does not include any steps that the next government might introduce,' he said, adding that Fidesz would strive to preserve international financing channels for Hungary's large debt burden.
Fidesz holds a three-to-one lead over the ruling Socialists, according to recent opinion polls.
(Reporting by Marton Dunai; Editing by Diane Craft) Keywords: HUNGARY IMF/ (marton.dunai@reuters.com; +36 1 327 4742; Reuters Messaging: marton.dunai.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Mihaly Varga, whose Fidesz party is widely projected to score a landslide victory over the ruling Socialists, said that they had met with International Monetary Fund officials but put off further talks until after the elections.
'We have agreed to wait until after the elections,' Varga told a Sunday night talk show on national television MTV.
'I consider it most likely... that we will have to start negotiations (with international lenders) right after a government change,' he said. Hungary became the first European Union member to ask for an international bailout in October 2008. The country avoided a default and an interim technocrat government introduced deep spending cuts, but structural reforms are still to come, analysts have said. Varga reiterated earlier warnings that Hungary's 2010 budget did not account for items that could boost the deficit to as much as 7.5 percent of gross domestic product from the current plan of 3.8 percent, a cornerstone condition of the IMF deal.
'This 7 to 7.5 percent does not include any steps that the next government might introduce,' he said, adding that Fidesz would strive to preserve international financing channels for Hungary's large debt burden.
Fidesz holds a three-to-one lead over the ruling Socialists, according to recent opinion polls.
(Reporting by Marton Dunai; Editing by Diane Craft) Keywords: HUNGARY IMF/ (marton.dunai@reuters.com; +36 1 327 4742; Reuters Messaging: marton.dunai.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.