Budget has room for second wave of epidemic, says Hungarian minister

Hungary’s economic protection measures introduced so far have been sufficient and proportionate, and there is room for further intervention in the budget if a second wave of the novel coronavirus epidemic makes it necessary, daily Világgazdaság said citing the innovation and technology minister.

“We did not want to allocate all the available resources in the first phase and distributed the monies available proportionately for various areas, leaving room for managing a second phase,” László Palkovics said. He added that facilities have now been prepared not only for health but also economic protection.

• Coronavirus – Thirteen new infections, no deaths in Hungary

Commenting on the energy strategy, Palkovics said nuclear energy played a vital role in achieving carbon neutrality and “in the area of renewable energy we have dedicated ourselves to solar power instead of wind energy”.

“We will need to spend between 600 billion forints (EUR 1.7bn) and 1,500 billion forints to fulfil all tasks but European Union funding could also help,” he added.

“It is a realistic target” that 50 billion euros should be available during the 2021-2027 EU budget period as against 32 billion euros in 2014-2020, he said. He added that the country could make an unprecedented leap forward thanks to EU allocations and the Hungarian economy’s performance. It could also help that an increasing number of large companies are moving their production from Asia to Europe and within the continent there is a shift from the south to the eastern-central European region, he said.

He cited a survey by the International Monetary Fund showing that Hungary’s economy is on a high-tech path with 70 percent of Hungary’s industrial production represented by high-tech products, the same as in Germany.

He said the HCEMM project was a milestone in molecular biology, the cornerstone of a pilot vaccine plant has been placed in Debrecen and the implementation of an artificial intelligence strategy has been started. It has been decided that Hungary would increase its supercomputing capacities from 0.4 petaflop to initially 5 petaflops and later to 20 petaflops, he said.

Commenting on the Budapest-Belgrade railway development project, he sad

preparations were progressing in line with plans and the project could be completed by 2025.

The stretch between Soroksár and Kelebia is expected to cost 578 billion forints, based on European benchmarks, he added.

Palkovics, who is also government commissioner for the renewal of motorsport, said that

65 billion forint MotoGP track in Hajdunánás in eastern Hungary is viewed as a returning investment.

In addition to annual MotoGP races to be held from 2023, the tracks are expected to host at least 180-200 days of extra events each year, he added. Commenting on Hungaroring in Mogyoród near Budapest, he said a comprehensive revamp involving the modernisation of buildings and noise protection is expected to cost 40-60 billion forints.

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Source: MTI