"We Won’t Yield To IMF"

"'The launch of a media campaign has become necessary out of unforeseen reasons and at the utmost urgency to deliver information to Hungary’s population', the public procurement register says, justifying the need for the swift awarding of the contract.

The messages Hungary is giving are mixed as to the talks with the IMF and the European Union that have now dragged on for 11 months. While Prime Minister Viktor Orban Tuesday played down the significance of an IMF package–saying it would help, but the country can finance itself in 2013–the country’s top negotiator Mihaly Varga is traveling to the IMF’s annual assembly in Tokyo this week to advance the formal negotiations through informal discussions.

Hungary is seeking a credit arrangement from the EU and the IMF to shield itself from the euro zone’s crisis, but stresses that it won’t accept any austerity measures that put additional burdens on households.

IMF officials have stated they have no such expectations of Hungary."