The size of Hungary's budget deficit is likely to attract strong criticism from the European Union

The size of Hungary's budget deficit is likely to attract strong criticism from the European Union, local media reported Tuesday. The European Union is due to release reports on the new European Union members' budget situations in early July. According to European Central Bank criteria for the adoption of the euro, budget deficits must be clearly moving down towards 3 percent of gross domestic product. The Hungarian government does not plan to reach that level until 2008 and economists are skeptical current polices will reduce it significantly even by then. The budget deficit last year in Hungary was 5.9 percent of gross domestic product. The official target for 2004 is 4.6 percent of GDP but few observers believe that such a target will be achieved. Hungary joined the European Union on May 1 and hopes to adopt the euro by the end of the decade at the latest.