Financial Tool for Exploring the Potentials of a National Municipal Housing Policy

Study by János Atkári, László Láng, Márta Pluhár, Ferenc Szűcs and Sándor Tóth for the Ministry of Self-Governments and Territorial Development.

Budapest, December, 2006

The study aims at a normative reference to exploring the potentials of a national municipal housing policy by suggesting a financial tool that, if introduced, could induce favourable effects on other fields of the municipal economics as well.

To that end it utilizes financial data that are to be gathered by law even today, but structured so that they are suited to follow economic processes, the scope of manouvering, to judge how prudent the economic management of the municipality is, and to give technical aid for regulating economic processes.

The authors suggest to extend the ?genre? of budgetary concept (a data-furnishing obligation prescribed by the Law on State Finances) making it compulsory for the municipalities step by step to use this tool, built in the annual budget decrees and final statements.

By introducing this tool the authors expect, that both the municipality itself, and its partners (national government, the EU, market factors, financing banks etc.) could have a more reliable view of the economic situation and prospects of the municipality in question, of the expediency of its policy.