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BUDAPEST, Oct 18 (Reuters): Hungary will not get into the euro by 2010 due to repeated budget overshoots, which have not been remedied in the 2006 budget, central bank Governor Zsigmond Jarai told Magyar Nemzet newspaper.
"The 2010 target date is not achievable. I think it is impossible for any government to catch up during 2007 and 2008.
For that, drastic actions would be needed in a short period of time," Jarai said in an interview published Tuesday.
Jarai's comments came after Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany told newsmen Monday that Hungary would meet Maastricht criteria on reducing the budget deficit to 3 per cent of gross domestic product in 2008.
Hungary has raised its 2005 budget deficit target to 6.1 per cent of GDP and is targeting 4.7 per cent in 2006 and with three years of budget overshoots already and an election due in spring next year, many private sector economists say that the euro is unlikely before 2013-14.
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