“We regret that the left cannot be counted on even in the current wartime situation and that they did not vote for the budget of utility protection and home defence,”...
The budget was passed with 135 votes in favor and 54 votes against.
Mihály Varga said utility price cuts and defense spending are the factors of economic policy defining the 2023 budget.
Minister Varga said it would not be necessary to cut spending any further than measures already taken, with HUF 755 billion already lopped off expenditures.
Besides support for families, Minister Varga highlighted education, healthcare, pensions, public sector wages, as well as defense and law enforcement as priority areas.
The 2020 budget will increase central expenditure in a number of areas, with a focus on demographic policy and sustained economic growth.
Mihály Varga said the government will next week submit to parliament a family-friendly budget with the aim of reversing the declining population.
Hungary’s economic growth -- 2 percent in 2016 and forecast to grow to 4.3 percent in 2017 – translates into an anticipated 1 trillion additional HUF (3.3 billion EUR) for the 2018 budget. Public debt is expected to drop by some 2 percent, and the deficit is expected to be 2.4 percent.
The government will allocate an extra 1,000 billion HUF to this year's overall spend, which has been made possible by the country’s recent economic growth
Government targets are unchanged from 2017 - achieving full employment, maintaining economic growth and boosting security