Gergely Gulyás, Head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said the scheme to cap public utility fees would be rolled out to small companies and municipalities. He added that this was “one of the most important tools” the government had to fight inflation.
According to MTI, Gulyás said global energy prices were now “unrestrained”, and he warned that the price of electricity, which had “perhaps grown highest on the world market”, must not be applied to retail price calculations. He reiterated that scheme would also apply to Hungarian small businesses with up to an annual 4 billion forints (EUR 11m) net turnover or balance sheet total that employed fewer than ten people. Local governments will also get the same access because “there appears to be significant demand for this among local councils”, he said.
Minister Gulyás also said it was important that the operations of local governments should go undisturbed and the situation resulting from the pandemic and the global market should pose the least extra burden on them. He said the National Bank of Hungary was making every effort to fight inflation, and the government was contributing to the fight by maintaining and expanding reduced public utility fees and fuel prices. It is hoped that Hungarian inflation figures will fall by the end of next year and “we can return to the ordinary path”, he added.
Photo credit: MTI