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By Gergely Szakacs

BUDAPEST, April 11 (Reuters) - Hungary's parliament will hold a confirmation hearing of former government debt agency leader Zoltan Kurali for central bank Deputy Governor next Tuesday, the agenda of the meeting showed on Friday.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban's former finance minister, Mihaly Varga, took over as Governor last month amid strengthening risks to Hungary's economic growth and inflation outlook ahead of a 2026 parliamentary election.

The National Bank of Hungary left its benchmark interest rate steady at the European Union's joint-highest level of 6.5% at Varga's first policy meeting last month and ruled out rate cuts for the foreseeable future as inflation rebounds.

Earlier this week the bank said U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs could lop 0.5 to 0.6 percentage points off Hungary's growth, denting recovery prospects after two years of near-stagnation amid an inflation surge to the EU's highest levels.

An economist, Kurali had worked at several commercial and investment banks, including Citi and Deutsche Bank, where he held various management and senior investment banking positions before taking over at government debt agency AKK in 2019.

Central bank Deputy Governor Mihaly Patai's six-year term is due to expire later this month, while Csaba Kandracs's six-year mandate as Deputy Governor expires in October.

Kurali's confirmation is expected to be a formality given Orban's commanding majority in parliament. If appointed, Kurali could attend his first policy meeting on April 29.

After leaving its base rate steady in a unanimous decision last month, the central bank raised its 2025 inflation forecast to between 4.5% and 5.1% and said tariff hikes and buoyant services and food prices posed upside risks to that projection.

(Reporting by Gergely Szakacs and Alan Charlish, Editing by William Maclean)

((gergely.szakacs@thomsonreuters.com ; https://x.com/szakacsg ; +36 1 882 3606 ; https://www.reuters.com/authors/gergely-szakacs/))