Hungary does not aim to tap eventual IMF/EU loan, says Kover

London, June 13 (MTI) - Hungary s sought-after agreement with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union is not principally about taking out a loan, Laszlo Kover, the speaker of parliament, said in London on Wednesday.

The agreement seeks to provide a safety net for investors, Kover said, adding, however, that tapping the loan could not be excluded altogether.

The main aim is for Hungary to obtain market financing with better conditions than at present, Kover said in a speech at an event for British Hungarians organised by the Hungarian embassy.

Kover said that the ruling Fidesz party had taken over in 2010 "during one of the deepest crises in Hungarian history," and the country had been "on the verge of falling apart in every respect."

"The economy, welfare, the administration were all in a disastrous state," he said.

Kover, who is on an official visit, said that the budget had also been in a critical condition, which required "unorthodox" ways for the government to raise extra funds from foreign-owned companies. Neither households nor domestic firms could be asked to shoulder the public burden any more than they were doing already, he said.

In response to critical remarks from the audience concerning the government s unconventional measures, Kover said that Economy Minister Gyorgy Matolcsy had had the courage to come up with new ideas, while everybody else had recommended "updated versions of the hopeless economic policies leading to (the situation in) 2010".