July 30, 2008

The Hungarian government rejects the latest proposals of the World Trade Organization to lower various customs tariffs and subsidies in agriculture and the industrial sector, Finance Minister Janos Veres said Tuesday (July 29) at a press conference.

"The proposals would fundamentally destabilize Hungary's competitive position," Veres said.

Under the proposed scheme, Hungary would lose about 25 percent of its revenues from agriculture and 60 percent of its customs revenues from agricultural and industrial imports.

"If the proposals were accepted, it would cost several tens of billions of forints in loss of earnings in the first year and this could stretch to hundreds of billions in the next couple of years," Veres said.

Besides the agriculture segment, vehicle manufacturing would be hit severely by the WTO proposal. Vehicle manufacturing accounts for over one-fourth of Hungary's overall manufacturing output.

Also opposing the proposals are France, Italy, Lithuania and Hungary, while the position of Greece, Ireland and Portugal are still unclear, government spokeswoman Bernadett Budai said at the press conference.