Hungary succeeded in trimming its public deficit slightly last year, thanks largely to transfers from the European Union, official data showed, but not by as much as the government hoped.

Hungary’s public deficit amounted to 4.2 per cent of gross domestic product in 2010, down from 4.5 per cent in 2009, the national statistics office KSH calculated in a statement.

Nevertheless, the figure was way above the ratio of the 3.8 per cent the government had been aiming for under the terms of a 2008 bailout deal with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Revenues, which had declined by one per cent in 2009, grew by one per cent last year, with “the highest increases recorded for EU transfers and for taxes on production and imports,” KSH explained.

“At the same time there were substantial decreases in revenues of income taxes and social contributions,” it said.