Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Hungary is fighting two important battles with Brussels over government measures freezing interest rates for retail borrowers and mandating caps on markups for a range of food and non-food products.
During his regular interview with public radio on Friday, PM Orbán said the rate freeze had saved around 300,000 households HUF 55bn, so far. Phasing the measure out would put around one-tenth of those borrowers at risk of bankruptcy, he added.
PM Orbán said the rate freeze was necessary until the cost of borrowing fell with a reduction of the base rate by the National Bank of Hungary (NBH).
Without the mandatory caps on markups, he said the prices of most of the affected products would rise significantly. He acknowledged retailers' motivation to boost earnings but said some profit was "unjustified" and, past a certain degree, "could ruin people".