Hungary posted a budget surplus of 33.8 bln forint excluding local government spending in January compared to a finance ministry forecast of a 27.5 bln deficit, the ministry said in its monthly briefing on the budget balance, the Thomson Financial reports.

The January budget balance amounted to 0.1 pct of domestic product, the ministry said.

The government of the emerging East European country is trying to reduce the deficit to 4 pct of GDP this year as it aims to reach the EU's 3 pct cap by 2010.

This would allow the country to adopt the European single currency, which it says it can theoretically do in 2011-2012, although some analysts say the earliest likely date is 2016.