Hungarian Finance Minister Janos Veres on Wednesday said the official projection for the country's economic growth in 2008 has been cut from 2.8 per cent to 2.4 per cent, according to dpa. The predicted rate of inflation in 2008 has also been bumped up from 4.8 per cent to 5.9 per cent, Veres said. Veres said the new predictions were due to external factors, particularly slowing growth in the European Union and the United States as recession bites the US. Hungary is currently going through a slump as economic reform measures aimed at cutting the budget deficit and, ultimately, getting the Central European nation ready for the euro hit home. Economic growth slowed to 1.3 per cent in 2007, from 3.9 per cent the previous year, and inflation hit a high of 9 per cent in March last year. Inflation has been slow to come down and was 6.9 per cent year-on-year in February. The new growth target moves the government far closer to the central bank, which is predicting growth of 2 per cent this year. Economic reforms have so far cut the deficit from 9.2 per cent of gross domestic product in 2006 to an estimated 5.7 per cent in 2007.
