Hungary Prime Minister claims record debt reduction

Hungary slashed its public debt by four percentage points, Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced on Tuesday, claiming a European record thanks to assets from nationalised private pension funds. Orban said state debt had decreased by 1.341 trillion forint (5.0 billion euros, $7.2 billion) to 77 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) from 81 percent.
"This reduction is a record in the European Union," he said. Orban said the fall was the start of sustainable debt reduction with the goal of bringing debt to under 50 percent of GDP by 2018. "Sovereign debt is not an economic problem or challenge; it is an enemy," he said. The reduction was largely due to the nationalisation of mandatory private pension funds, worth some 2.9 trillion forint. The centre-right government almost entirely dismantled the country's mandatory private pension scheme by forcing most of its three million members to return to the state system earlier this year.