Hungary “cap in hand” to IMF

The European Union and the International Monetary Fund may be battered and bruised, but they’re still plenty strong enough to deal with the likes of Hungary. Via Reuters: Hungary must convince the International Monetary Fund on Thursday it is willing to change its ways in return for aid to remain solvent, a day after the ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

The European Union and the International Monetary Fund may be battered and bruised, but they're still plenty strong enough to deal with the likes of Hungary. Via Reuters:

The European Union and the International Monetary Fund may be battered and bruised, but they’re still plenty strong enough to deal with the likes of Hungary. Via Reuters:

Hungary must convince the International Monetary Fund on Thursday it is willing to change its ways in return for aid to remain solvent, a day after the European Union flagged the threat of legal action over hard-line reforms.

For Prime Minister Viktor Orban, widely criticised for pushing through restrictive new laws on public finances and the central bank while treating the country’s would-be lenders with defiance, going back to the IMF cap in hand represents a severe political climbdown.

Tamas Fellegi, minister in charge of talks with the IMF and the EU – which led a 20 billion rescue of Hungary in 2008 – meets IMF chief Christine Lagarde in Washington on Thursday with a mandate to accept a stricter funding deal than Budapest initially wanted.

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

Tag: IMF

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