Hungary hopes to reduce its budget deficit below the EU's 3 percent ceiling in the future but seeks equal treatment with other member states on a time frame to achieve that target, the prime minister said. Hungary by the end of the year will bring its deficit to 3.8 percent (of GDP) as it has agreed to, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told a news conference on Thursday.

But with this, the talks have not ended as the EU wants to negotiate with us, as well as 20 other member states in the EU, on how we will manage this 3 percent deficit. Hungary will be part of these negotiations.

When asked if the government still intended to seek a new precautionary deal with the IMF for 2011 and 2012, Orban said this matter was insignificant now, as the main issue was to reach an agreement with the EU on how to bring the budget deficit below 3 percent.

(Reporting by Krisztina Than and Gergely Szakacs)