HungaryTrends – The week in business and finance

See below the main business and financial news from the previous week:

SHOCKING NEWS: THE GOVERNMENT MAKES MEDICAL CARE SUBJECT TO PAYMENT 

The government plans to levy the cost of medical treatment from those, whose social security is not paid – reports Népszava. To this day, people only had to pay their outstanding contributions, but they will have to pay the full bill from now on. Read more HERE.

HUNGARY A GUEST OF HONOUR AT FIRST CHINESE INTERNATIONAL IMPORT EXPO 

Hungary will be one of the 12 guests of honour at the first Chinese International Import Expo, held between November 5 and 10 in Shanghai. Read more HERE. 

GOVERNMENT EXPANDS CSOK HOME SUBSIDIES PROGRAMME

Hungary’s government decided to make families with two children eligible for a 10 million forint (EUR 30,850) preferential loan available in the framework of the Home Purchase Subsidy Scheme for Families with Children, known by its Hungarian acronym “CSOK”, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said at a regular press briefing. Earlier the 10 million forint loans were available only to families with three or more children. The government also decided to make a 15 million forint CSOK loan available to families with three or more children. Read more HERE.

DISTRICT XIX SHOPPING CENTRE UNDERGOES ALMOST HUF 5 BN RENOVATION

General contractor KÉSZ Épitő completed the nearly 5 billion forint (EUR 15.4m) renovation of a 24,000 square-metre shopping centre in Budapest’s District XIX, Diófa Alapkezelő, which manages the fund that owns the centre, said. The shopping centre, earlier called Europark, was renamed Shopmark. About 90 businesses have shops in the centre. Read more HERE.

HUNGARY, US SIGN TAX INFORMATION EXCHANGE AGREEMENT

Hungary and the United States signed a tax information exchange agreement. The agreement, a measure against international tax evasion as well as the international financing of terrorism, was signed by Finance Minister Mihály Varga and US ambassador to Hungary David B Cornstein.

VEOLIA ENERGIA MAGYARORSZAG ACQUIRES VIRTUAL POWER PLANT

French-owned Veolia Energia Magyarorszag started building a virtual power plant portfolio with the acquisition of a 51 percent stake in CHP Eromu. CHP Eromu draws on the output of three gas-fueled power plants in Budapest’s District XV, in Dunakeszi, on the outskirts of the capital, and in Eger (NE Hungary). The plants have combined capacity of almost 30MW.

EUROSTAT MAINTAINS RESERVATION ON NBH FOUNDATIONS

Eurostat maintained a reservation on the way Hungary classifies the foundations of the National Bank of Hungary (NBH) in its national accounts statistics, arguing that they should be included in the general government sector, the European Union’s statistics office said in a news release. “Eurostat is maintaining the reservation on the quality of the data reported by Hungary in relation to the sector classification of the foundations created by the Hungarian National Bank. Eurostat considers that these foundations, including their subsidiaries, should be classified inside general government,” the office said in a report on government debt and deficit data.

Featured image: MTI

Source: MTI