BUDAPEST, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday urged Hungary to adopt a "new policy course" on economy to boost the country's economic growth.
The IMF officials made a series of suggestions Monday in a concluding statement after spending two weeks in Hungary as part of regular Article IV consultations.
"A new policy course is needed to deliver the required medium-term fiscal adjustment in a sustainable way to support growth and confidence, repair the financial sector, and promote structural reforms to boost the potential of the Hungarian economy," according to the statement.
The statement said that Hungary was in its second recession in four years and that the outlook was difficult driven by falling consumption and investment as well as stubbornly high unemployment.
Frequent and unpredictable tax policy changes, minimum wage hikes, mortgage relief schemes and utility tariff cuts, weak investment was also to blame.
The IMF predicted the general government deficit could reach 3.25 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013, compared with the government's 2.7 percent goal, and may exceed 3 percent in 2014 and 2015.
As a result, the country's public debt would continue to stay around 78 percent of GDP, 10 percentage points higher than the pre-crisis level, said the statement.
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