Hungarian finance minister urges Ireland ‘to think outside the box’

IRELAND has been advised to “think outside the box” by the Hungarian finance minister, Gyorgy Matolcsy, whose government rejected IMF and EU demands for austerity measures earlier this year.

As the cost of insuring Irish debt soared, Hungary’s unorthodox measures dramatically cut its national deficit to the required 3.8%, according to figures released last night in Budapest.

Mr Matolcsy, who will chair EU finance ministers’ meetings over the next six months, also warned there are new signals that the markets were preparing for fresh attacks on the euro. The most vulnerable countries are considered to be Portugal, Spain and Belgium.