Hungary remains committed to reducing itsnational debt, the government said Monday after Economy Minister Gyorgy Matolcsy filed a bill that would postpone a constitutional upper limit, according to dpa. "The government will stick with the ongoing reduction of the national debt and keep the budget deficit below 3 per cent (of grossdomestic product)," a spokesman told the state news agency MTI. The new basic law, due to come into force in January, prohibits governments from increasing the public debt until it has been brought below 50 per cent of GDP. Under Matolcsy's proposal, this limitation would only be applied from 2016. A "battle" against the national debt to secure Hungary's "financial autonomy" has been a cornerstone of Prime Minister ViktorOrban's rhetoric since his government took office in the spring oflast year. The government trumpeted earlier this year an almostsix-percentage-point debt reduction to 76 per cent, achieved through a de facto nationalization of pension funds.
