The Ministry for National Economy (NGM) has done an excellent job as 2014 was a record-breaking year in terms of the disbursement of EU funding, Minister of State for the Utilization of EU Funding Balázs Rákossy told state news agency MTI.

Ministries disbursed some HUF 1845bn as funding to beneficiaries, thus realizing 92 percent of the annual target. Among the ministries, NGM has been the most successful in this regard: it implemented 100 percent of its disbursement plan last year and paid HUF 463.43bn as funding prescribed mainly for economic operative programmes, he added.

He stressed that the officials of the Ministry have monitored the implementation and completion of projects and provided constant support for beneficiaries. The processing of a record-high number of bills was completed through working overtime and thus disbursements could be realized on time and in an orderly manner.

These payments helped realize plans such as the tourism project of the Bishop’s Palace in Pécs that received funding of HUF 1.5bn or the construction of the Széchenyi Zsigmond Carpathian Basin Hungarian Hunting Museum at the Grassalkovich Castle in Hatvan for more than HUF 3bn, the Minister of State pointed out.

He also called attention to the fact that Hungary has committed itself to implementing a large-scale economic stimulus programme in 2014-2020. In the previous EU fiscal period, only 16 percent of EU funding earmarked to Hungary was spent on economic development, while this share has been increased to 60 percent in the current period.

As Balázs Rákossy emphasised, it is in the best interest of the country to boost employment through bolstering and improving the competitiveness of economic stakeholders and thus achieve full employment and pursue a re-industrialization policy.

(Ministry for National Economy)