Hungary has surpassed worst part of financial crisis: PM

(MADRID) - Hungary has surpassed the most critical phase of the financial crisis after the country was given the green light to receive a 20-billion-euro (25-billion-dollar) international aid package, Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said Tuesday in Spain.

"I believe that Hungary has passed the peak of this crisis," he told a joint news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, pointing to the strenghtening of the Hungarian currency, the forint, as proof.

"We are now concentrating our efforts to counter the economic slowdown with a four-billion-euro plan to fight against unemployment, support investments and the treasuries of firms," he added.

Last week the Washington-based International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the European Union agreed to provide Hungary with the 20-billion-euro loan. The European Central Bank had already agreed to loan in five billion euros.

Hungarian government officials have all said they expected Hungary would not need to draw the full amount available, as liquidity on international markets is expected to improve along with investors' confidence in the country's creditworthiness.

Hungary, which joined the European Union in 2004, has been hit hard by the current financial crisis due to its heavy dependence on foreign capital to finance its economy and has one of the biggest public deficits in the EU.

Prior to the international bailout, the government had feared the worst, including a collapse of the national currency, Gyurcsany said Sunday.