BUDAPEST, Hungary, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany has set 2010 as his country's target date for adopting the euro, Hungarian Television reported Thursday.
Gyurcsany's pledge came just before he was formally confirmed as prime minister in a vote in parliament that, as expected, he won overwhelmingly.
International investors, and last week the Fitch ratings agency, have cast doubt on Hungary's ability to put public finances in order in time to achieve euro adoption any time before 2010.
Observers doubt the new Hungarian government will have the political will to cut public spending to curb the country's spiraling budget deficit. Earlier in September, the government admitted that its own target for a budget deficit of 4.6 percent of gross domestic product this year would not be met. It raised its budget deficit forecast to between 5 and 5.3 percent of gross domestic product, a revision the central bank still regards as being on the optimistic side.
Budget deficits must be at or below 3 percent of gross domestic product for countries to qualify for euro adoption.
