2023 Hungarian budget ‘aimed at utility price protection’

This year’s budget is aimed at protecting consumers from high utility prices, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, told a regular government press briefing on Thursday.

Referring to changes to the state budget, expected to be passed by parliament in March, Gulyás said the government was committed to maintaining its utility price cap programme and high employment “amid a number of economic hazards”. The goals of increasing pensions and real wages have not changed, he added.

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Gulyás said the goal of avoiding a recession was likely to be met, adding that most analysts were in agreement with the government’s growth target of 1.5 percent for this year. If that is met, he said, the utility price caps could be maintained for average consumption, while family subsidies could even increase.

As for last year, Gulyás said “all indicators” showed a 4.5 percent economic growth rate, which he said was one of the highest in the European Union.

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Source: MTI