GOVERMENT LAWN MOWER AT WORK

Though the government has called 2004 the year of enterprises, its restrictions punish mainly the Ministry of Economy and Transport. Apart from the frozen HUF 36 billion another HUF 3,5 billion is taken away from the ministry.

The new package of restrictions announced on Wednesday affect the Ministry of Defence with HUF 1,2 billion but the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education are also severely curtailed. Even the local self-governments can expect new restrictions though Tibor Draskovics, Minister of Finance last week refuted rumours of drastic restrictions.

Meanwhile Prime Minister Medgyessy informed the ambassadorial council of OECD yesterday about a measurable improvement of Hungarian economy with the prediction that Hungary could be a member of the European monetary union between 2008 and 2010. Zsigmond Járai, president of the Hungarian Central Bank said it was aimless to set dates if they served only short-term goals while the mistakes in economic policy gave way to speculations against the forint.

Translated by Péter Szentmihályi Szabó