Output by the EU has improved and so has Hungary’s, he said. Varga held talks with the Czech finance minister Andrei Babis, who had initiated collaboration among Central European countries in combating VAT fraud.

Hungary, the Czech Republic, Austria and Slovakia share problems in this area, with billing chains, a type of fraud, gaining momentum and eating into state revenues from VAT, Varga said.

The ministers agreed to continue coordinating in this matter at a meeting in Vienna in May.

Plans are to tighten cooperation between the national tax offices of these countries and to apply reverse VAT more broadly, Varga said. It is estimated that the Hungarian central budget loses 1.5-2 billion euros annually due to billing chains, a type of fraud, he added.

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