Now Hungary turns to the IMF for help

They are dropping like flies.With the markets anxiously watching what the New Spanish government will do to address its defecit,this morning it is the turn of Hungary which has asked the IMF and the EU for help.

According to Reuters, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's governmentwhich has pursued unconventional policies since it swept to power in April 2010, may face hard talks with lenders if it wants a deal without strict conditions attached, analysts have said.

The call appears an about face after it seemed Orban's government was quite capable of dealing with its own problems.

However the euro zone debt crisis, and Hungary's weak economic outlook coupled with the threat of a downgrade to "junk" debt status prompted the government to take this sudden U-turn.

Hungary was the first European Union country to receive an IMF-led bailout in 2008. The country had the highest public debt level among post-communist EU members at 81 percent of gross domestic product last year.

The next victim of the global downturn

Fisrt it was the Icelandic Prime Minister now the Hungarian one joins the list of leaders forced out by the economic crisis.

Ferenc Gyurcsany has announced that he considers himself a hindrance to further economic and social reforms and will make a formal announcement on Monday to the country's parliament.

Yesterday Levi Strauss announced that it would be closing its factory in the country due to falling demand with the loss of over 500 jobs.

There have been anti government protests recently with several thousand people attempting to march on Parliament last weekend being dispersed by tear gas.

The economy is expected to contract 3.5 per cent this year and Gyurcsany's attempts to sell an Eastern European package to fellow EU members in Brussels have been seveerly critised in the country.

The country recieved a $25b loan from the IMF last autumn