Latest news with #MártonNagy
Budapest Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Budapest Times
Nagy: Government's 2026 ‘anti-war budget' puts families first
Márton Nagy, National Economy Minister, called the government's 2026 budget bill an 'anti-war budget' at the start of debate of the draft legislation in parliament on Wednesday. Minister Nagy said the 2026 budget aimed to mitigate the negative effects of the war in Ukraine and focused on support for families raising children, young Hungarians and pensioners. The budget seeks to ensure the security of every Hungarian family, while allowing all Hungarians to 'take a step forward', he added. He said the budget also provided guarantees for the continuation of Hungary's work-based society. Hungary's government will roll out Europe's biggest family tax cut programme in 2026, while maintaining the regulated utilities price scheme for households, ensuring pensioners get their annual bonus, protecting workplaces and creating new jobs, he said. He noted that the 2026 budget bill assumed 4.1pc GDP growth and 3.6pc average annual inflation. The deficit target is 3.7pc of GDP.
Budapest Times
14-05-2025
- Business
- Budapest Times
Nagy: Hungary's government will keep fiscal stability a priority in 2025 and 2026
Márton Nagy, National Economy Minister, told MTI that Hungary's government will keep fiscal stability a 'priority' in 2025 and 2026, even as it undertakes the biggest tax cut program in Europe. Following an ECOFIN meeting in Brussels, Minister Nagy highlighted the rollout of personal income tax exemptions for mothers of two and three children, the doubling of tax allowances for families raising children and VAT rebates for pensioners. The minister said that the government had already decided on those measures and wouldn't make any compromises. 'We will channel those resources to Hungarian families and pensioners, not to Ukraine,' he added. He pointed to the challenge posed to all countries in Europe by the decline in competitiveness of the European Union and Germany, the need to boost defense spending and the global trade war. He noted that 16 member states, Hungary included, had requested the activation of an escape clause that would allow for greater fiscal manoeuvre when it came to defense spending. Minister Nagy acknowledged that the general government deficit had reached 71pc of the full-year target in January-April, as in earlier years. He said expenditures had climbed on interest payments for retail government securities and an annual pensioners' bonus. Budget revenue rose in line with expectations, supported by increasing consumption, even as GDP underperformed expectations, he added. Minister Nagy noted that the government had earlier modified the full-year general government deficit target to 4.1pc of GDP. The government is actively analysing budget trends and will make corrections on the expenditure side, if necessary, he said. The 'basic rule', he added, was for the general government to break even, excluding debt maintenance costs. The government will bring down interest expenditures, reducing the deficit and state debt levels in the coming years, he said.
Budapest Times
08-05-2025
- Business
- Budapest Times
Minister Nagy submits government's 2026 budget bill to parliament
Minister Nagy said that the most important question for 2026 was whether "Hungarian money would go to Ukraine". Márton Nagy, National Economy Minister, submitted the government's 2026 budget bill to parliament on Tuesday. Submitting the bill to László Kövér, the house speaker, Minister Nagy said that the most important question for 2026 was whether 'Hungarian money would go to Ukraine'. He added that the Brussels bureaucracy and the majority of the European Parliament wanted to require European countries, and Hungary too, to support and arm Ukraine. He said the 2026 budget bill earmarked Hungary's resources for Hungarian families, not Ukraine. The anti-war budget puts families with children first, he added. Minister Nagy said HUF 4,800bn had been allocated for family policy goals next year. Including spending on the regulated utilities price scheme for households, family support will add up to HUF 5,600bn, he added. Hungary will undertake Europe's biggest tax cut programme in the interest of families, he said, adding that a personal income tax exemption for mothers of two and three children would add up to HUF 320bn and the doubling of the family tax allowance would come to HUF 290bn. Tax preferences will leave more than HUF 1,300bn with families, he said. Pension-related expenditures, affecting over 2 million people, will come to HUF 7,700bn in 2026, including an annual pensioners' bonus and an expected growth-linked premium, he said. A 13pc minimum wage rise will be applied in public administration, while salaries for people on municipal council payrolls will climb by 15pc, following a 15pc pay rise in 2025, too, he said. Increases of teachers' salaries will continue, and Hungarians in uniform will get a bonus equivalent to six-month's salary, adding up to HUF 450bn, he added. Interest payments on retail government securities will come to HUF 800bn in 2026, he said. The budget earmarks HUF 5,500bn for spending on economic development, including around HUF 2,850bn from national resources, he said. Investment spending will come close to HUF 1,600bn, he added. Spending on border defence and protection against illegal migration will come to HUF 2,016bn, or 2pc of GDP, he said. Expenditures on extraordinary security measures will add up to HUF 1,700bn, he added. Over HUF 4,000bn will go to education and HUF 3,919bn to healthcare. Over HUF 653bn has been allocated for cultural activities and more than HUF 135bn for church activities. Expenditures earmarked for social and welfare institution services will rise by close to HUF 223bn to HUF 1,600bn. Kövér said debate of the budget would start May 20 and lawmakers could submit amendments to the bill until May 22. Those amendments will be cleared by MPs on June 10 and the final vote will take place on June 16, he added. Fielding questions, Minister Nagy said insurers had pledged on Tuesday to voluntarily adjust premiums in line with a request from the government, thus no regulatory intervention would be required. He said consumption would remain the engine of economic growth in 2025 and highlighted the performance of the retail and tourism sectors. Performance of the industrial sector and investments hinges in large part on the recovery of the German economy, he added. Minister Nagy said the budget bill was drafted assuming a HUF/EUR rate of 403. It assumes average annual inflation of 4.5pc in 2025 and 3.6pc in 2026, he added. CPI could fall under 4pc around June, he said. As long as food price inflation is over 5pc, a government-mandated cap on markups for a range of food products is justified, he added.
Budapest Times
28-04-2025
- Business
- Budapest Times
Government submits 2026 budget draft to Fiscal Council
The National Economy Ministry said the budget draft, "built on peace", contains Europe's largest tax reduction program and prioritises support for families and pensioners, while calculating with significant pay rises. The Hungarian government submitted its 2026 budget draft to the Fiscal Council on Thursday. The National Economy Ministry said the budget draft, 'built on peace', contains Europe's largest tax reduction program and prioritises support for families and pensioners, while calculating with significant pay rises. In a message on social media, National Economy Minister Márton Nagy said the draft budget earmarked HUF 4,800bn in support for families, adding that doubled tax allowances would leave HUF 290bn with families raising children, up from HUF 80bn in 2025. Households will get around HUF 800bn in support in the form of subsidies for the regulated utilities price system, and they will get a further HUF 800bn in interest payments on retail government securities. Some HUF 450bn has been earmarked for bonuses for Hungarians in uniform, and resources have been allocated for double-digit pay rises for public sector workers in smaller settlements. In line with Hungary's commitment to keep defense spending at 2pc of GDP, HUF 1,900bn will go toward upgrading the Hungarian Defense Forces. Around HUF 4,900bn will be spent on economic development, including HUF 2,200bn in European Union funding. Windfall profit taxes will remain in place in some sectors, while tax preferences for boosting headcount and spending on R+D will rise. The budget is calculated with 4.1pc GDP growth and 3.6pc average annual inflation. The primary deficit — excluding the cost of debt maintenance — is set at zero. The general government deficit target is 3.7pc of GDP, while state debt is set to fall to a year-end 72.3pc of GDP from 73.1pc at end-2025. The government will submit the budget bill to lawmakers on May 6, after the Fiscal Council issues its opinion on the draft.
Budapest Times
23-04-2025
- Business
- Budapest Times
Nagy: Government has approved the main figures of the 2026 budget
Minister Nagy said the budget draft would be sent to the Fiscal Council in the coming week and submitted to lawmakers on May 2. Márton Nagy, National Economy Minister, said the government has approved the main figures of the 2026 budget. At a regular press briefing, Minister Nagy said the budget draft would be sent to the Fiscal Council in the coming week and submitted to lawmakers on May 2. Expenditures are close to HUF 35,000bn and revenue around HUF 34,000bn in the draft, he added. The draft targets a 3.7pc-of-GDP deficit, he said. Calculated with the European Union's accrual-based accounting rules, the deficit target stands at HUF 3,700bn, while the cash flow-based gap is set to reach HUF 4,100bn, he added. He said the primary deficit — which excludes interest expenditures — would be zero. The state debt ratio is set to fall from 73.1pc to 72.3pc at end-2026, he added. The draft budget assumes GDP growth of 4.1pc and average annual inflation of 3.6pc. In absolute terms, GDP is set to rise to HUF 95,000bn from HUF 88,000bn in 2024. The chance of peace gives the government the chance to return to a policy of tax cuts, a policy that will be focused on families, he said.
