An amendment to the 2013 budget submitted to Parliament by the economy minister would raise the allocation for savings cooperative integrator SZHISZ by HUF 35.5bn. National Development Minister Zsuzsa Nemeth said a week earlier that the allocation would rise from HUF 100bn to around HUF 136bn to cover the acquisition of a stake in postal company Magyar Posta. The government recently issued a decree on making preparations for the sale of the 25pc-minus-one-vote stake in Magyar Posta to SZHISZ. The National Development Ministry said the transaction would establish cross-ownership that guarantees cooperation between savings cooperatives and Magyar Posta. Mrs Nemeth said the acquisition was intended to improve financing as well as postal services in smaller cities and towns. The government-initiated integration of Hungary’s savings cooperatives aims to create synergy and allow savings cooperatives to meet stricter European Union capital adequacy requirements. Legislation on the integration was approved by Parliament in July. The Fiscal Council said in an opinion that the amendment would raise the cash flow-based deficit by HUF 39bn, including HUF 3.5bn in additional spending for „government plans that were not disclosed in the draft”, but the accrual-based deficit would still remain under the 3pc of GDP European Union threshold. The Council said, however, that the precise size of the deficit would depend on how the the capital contribution is booked in ESA accounting methodology and urged „tight fiscal management” as well as no further spending of reserves in the National Protection Fund to ensure the gap remains under the threshold. The Council also noted that the frequent amendments of legislation, even if they themselves are professionally sound, worsen the predictability of the budget. The proposed change would be the eighth amendment of the 2013 budget act. If the amendment is approved by Parliament, the expenditure line in the budget will rise from HUF 16,376.2bn to HUF 16,550.7bn. Revenue will increase from HUF 15,325.3bn to HUF 15,460.8bn, resulting in a deficit of HUF 1,089.9bn.