Govt not to abandon job protection plan even if financing changes, says Rogan

Budapest, September 12 (MTI) - Fidesz lawmakers have agreed that the government should stick to its flagship job protection plan, even if the sources from which the plan will be financed must change, Antal Rogan, the party s parliamentary group leader, told commercial Inforadio on Wednesday evening.

He said Fidesz lawmakers expected the government to carry out the job protection plan without fail, even if "elements of financing must be replaced." He was referring to the economy minister Gyorgy Matolcsy s remarks earlier that it is likely the government will not be able to extend the transactions tax to apply to the central bank. The government said in August that it expected to draw 116 billion forints (EUR 411m) from applying the tax to the central bank. The job protection plan is estimated to cost 250-300 billion forints to implement.

Rogan said he still considered applying the tax to central bank an idea "worth pondering", but perhaps its extent or degree should be lowered.

On the subject of Hungary s talks with international lenders on aid, Rogan said Hungary had leeway in its negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union because it was not asking for a loan but only a credit line. He said he expected a deal to be struck "relatively quickly".