Hungary Freezes Some Spending After Budget Gap Hits $8 Billion

Hungary’s government deficit rose to a record through April as interest payments outpaced tax income growth, leading the government to announce a spending freeze in parts of the budget.

The government racked up more than 2.9 trillion forints ($8 billion) in deficit in the first four months of the year, the worst on record for that period after debt repayments ballooned, according to data from the Economy Ministry. For the month of April alone, the shortfall was 376 billion forints.