To avoid a further EU excessive deficit procedure, the Hungarian government announced a fresh batch of austerity measures on June 17.
In late May, the European Commission proposed abandoning the excessive deifict procedure, which Hungary has been subjected to since joining the union in 2004, points out Népszava.
The new measures include an increase in the tax on financial transactions (from 0.3 to 0.6 per cent) and on bank transfers (from 0.2 per cent to 0.3 per cent), as well as mining royalties.
The provisions, which will come into force in August, have come hot on the heels of an intial series of austerity measures announced in May, which included a freeze on spending in 2013 and 2014, equal to 0.3 per cent of GDP.
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