HUNGARY FACES UPWARD REVISION OF BUDGET DEFICIT BY BRUSSELS.

In the final stages before strict new budget recommendations are issued, the European Commission is considering an upward revision of Hungary's excessive deficit on October 20. Back in July, Budapest had made new promises to put right its overspending and fall back in line with the terms of the Stability and Growth Pact. By the end of 2005, Hungary is banking on bringing its budget deficit down to 3.6% of GDP, but "everything points to fact that this cannot be sustained", said Joaquin Almunia, EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner.

By way of a financial sleight of hand, revealed by Eurostat, Hungary had excluded revenues from the sale of road infrastructure from its budget in a bid to reduce its deficit. But it...