Speaking in a video uploaded to his Facebook page earlier today, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced four new measures to be included among the government’s already existing economy protection action plan aimed at reducing the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on Hungarian families and businesses. (Read more here, here and here about the action plan put in place to remedy the consequences of the first wave of the virus.)
Here are the latest measures:
Moratorium on loan repayments for families and businesses will be extended until July 1, 2021.
Government will reimburse two-thirds of the salary payments of businesses in the catering, tourism and hotel sectors that had to temporarily close due to the protective measures. This will also apply to private transportation firms.
Local business taxes of small- and medium-sized enterprises will be halved from January 1, 2021. Based on talks with the representatives of smaller settlements, towns and villages with a population below 25,000 will receive additional government support.
Families with (or expecting) children may now apply for a preferential home renovation loan up to HUF 6 million, out of which up to 3 million will be automatically deducted once the renovations are over. The interest rate of the loan may also not exceed 3 percent.
“The second wave of the coronavirus is breaking records all over Europe,” Prime Minister Orbán said, adding that Hungary’s doctors, hospitals and nurses “are standing firm” against the “attacks of the virus.” The government, he continued, is providing all the necessary equipment for a successful defense.
“But,” the PM warned, “this virus does not only jeopardize people’s health; it has launched an attack on our families and jobs, too.”
“For us, all lives and all jobs matter,” PM Orbán said in closing.
Photo credit: Facebook - Viktor Orbán