“Next year’s budget is the budget of economy protection, which while maintaining the level of epidemiological preparedness also provides support for families raising children, protecting pensioners, and maintaining security”, Minister of Finance Mihály Varga declared when submitting the budget bill.

“In 2021, practically all areas will have more funding available while, in contrast to a significant portion of European Union countries, the annual deficit will remain below 3 percent. The budget bill calculates with 4.8 percent economic growth and sovereign debt falling to 69.3 percent of the gross domestic product”, the Finance Minister highlighted.

“The structure of next year’s budget is made up of two main pillars”, Mr. Varga declared. “The Economy Protection Fund is providing 2555 billion forints (EUR 7.3 billion) in resources for the continuation of Hungary’s largest ever economy protection program aimed at preserving workplaces and supporting enterprises. The Health Insurance and Epidemic Protection Fund includes the resources required for protecting against the epidemic and the functioning of the healthcare system, with a budget of some 3000 billion forints (EUR 8.56 billion). In addition, the budget bill also includes a central reserve of 270 billion forints (EUR 770 million), which equates to over half a percent of the gross domestic product. One of the government’s priority goals is to ensure that Hungary is a family-friendly place, and accordingly the 2021 budget will continue to fully provide the resources required to support families who are raising children”, Mr. Varga said, highlighting the fact that the government has earmarked a budget of 2295 billion forints (EUR 6.55 billion) for this purpose. “Since 2010, the government has increased funding for families by over 150 percent, the level of which is now one of the highest in Europe at over 4% of GDP”, he pointed out.

“Resources to be spent of pension services will be increasing by 327 billion forints (EUR 932.5 million) to 3907 billion forints (EUR 11.14 billion) next year, in addition to which over 77 billion forints (EUR 219.5 million) will be spent on the first phase of the 13th monthly pension and 53 billion forints (EUR 151 million) on the payment of a pension premium. A budget of some 2115 billion forints (EUR 6 billion) will be available for healthcare purposes, almost 918 billion forints (EUR 2.62 billion) more than in the 2010 budget, and 156 billion forints (EUR 445 million) more than in this year’s budget. Next year, education expenditure will reach a total of 2229 billion forints (EUR 6.35 billion), which equates to an increase of 784 billion forints (EUR 2.23 billion) compared to 2010, and a year-on-year increase of some 80 billion forints (EUR 228 million) compared to 2020. In the interests of maintaining Hungary’s security, the resources to be spent on defence will be increasing by almost 30% during the space of one year, to over 704 billion forints (EUR 2 billion). Law enforcement expenditure will approach 953 billion forints (EUR 2.15 billion), which represents an increase of some 504 billion forints (EUR 1.44 billion) compared to 2010 and over 93 billion forints (EUR 265 million) compared to last year”, the Minister announced.

(Ministry of Finance / MTI)