Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's top economic aide piled pressure on the central bank on Tuesday to start lowering interest rates, saying current borrowing costs were "extremely onerous" for the economy, which is slowing sharply.

"I can only hope that the NBH (National Bank of Hungary) starts lowering interest rates as soon as possible and will not remain overly cautious," Economic Development Minister Marton Nagy was quoted as saying by the news website index.hu.

The NBH holds its monthly policy meeting later on Tuesday. (Reporting by Gergely Szakacs and Jason Hovet; Editing by Andrew Heavens)