Budapest - Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said on Saturday he will step down from office, calling for a new government with a new leader to tackle Hungary's economic crisis.

At a congress of his Hungarian Socialist Party in Budapest, the deeply unpopular premier spoke of the need for a wider social consensus to tackle the crisis.

"I hope I am the only obstacle to this - and if I am, then I will now remove that obstacle," Gyurcsany said.

He said he would inform parliament of his decision on Monday, and called for an extraordinary party congress to be held in two weeks' time to select the new party leader and prime minister.

"I do not want to go, I do not want to give up my mission," Gyurcsany added. He did not name a potential successor. (dpa)