Budapest - The draft 2010 budget bill has received the support of the governing Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP), Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai said on Monday after a group session. "The MSZP unequivocally supports the budget, as this is necessary to put Hungary on the road to stability and growth," Bajnai told reporters.
Parliamentary group leader Attila Mesterhazy said Socialist Party members would unanimously support the bill in the forthcoming budget vote, expected on November 30.
The vote on the 2010 budget, which includes further-public sector sending cuts, is the most important test remaining for Bajnai's caretaker government before elections that must be held by April.
Bajnai said the socialist caucus had not demanded any compromises from his caretaker government, which plans spending cuts of 400 billion forints (2.16 billion dollars) next year.
The interim government, which took office in April, has already implemented cutbacks of some 900 billion forints this year, mostly by slashing pensions and public sector pay.
The Finance Ministry forecasts that Hungary's economy will shrink by 6.7 per cent this year, and will not start growing again until late 2010.
Nevertheless, Hungary has committed to reining in its budget deficit to within 3.9 per cent of gross national product this year, a condition attached to a 25-billion-dollar rescue loan granted a year ago.
The Socialist Party is a few seats short of a majority in parliament, so the government will also need the support or abstentions of a handful of opposition politicians.
The Socialists' former coalition partner, the liberal Alliance of Free Democrats, has warned that it would withdraw its support if the government were to shy away from spending cuts.
