The Hungarian government will carry on with its economic protection measures aimed at offsetting the effects of the novel coronavirus pandemic throughout the autumn, the finance minister told an online conference.
Surveys indicate that the second wave of the pandemic has ignited fears of bankruptcy among businesses and people are afraid of losing their jobs, Mihály Varga said, adding that this meant the government had to keep allocating significant amounts of funding to its economy protection action plan. He added that the government would have to approach the drafting of the various schemes aimed at protecting key industries with the recognition that the country will have to “coexist with the virus and the situation it has created”.
The second quarter of 2021 will be a key period, he said, noting that the situation with the pandemic would only improve once a vaccine was available. This will be the basis for an economic recovery, which will likely be indicated by import growth and the Purchasing Managers Index, he added.
The government works to help the Hungarian economy recover to 2019 levels in two or three years, Varga said. So far, 2,126 billion forints (EUR 5.8bn) have been disbursed from the 2,485 billion recovery fund, and payment of the remaining 359 billion is ongoing, he said.
hungarymatters.hu
pixabay
