Government to help Hungarian pop musicians with over EUR 14.5m

The government will provide over 5 billion forints (EUR 14.5m) to help the organisation of some 150 small-scale concerts by pop musicians who have been heavily impacted by the coronavirus epidemic, a government spokesperson said on Facebook on Wednesday.

Alexandra Szentkirályi said that the concerts will feature such names as Gabi Tóth and Vera Tóth, Rózsi Demjén, Tankcsapda, and Fecó Balázs.

The government is aware of the difficult situation of musicians and their staff, the spokeswoman said, adding that preparations for the “barn concerts” are already under way.

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Entertainment, retail among hardest hit by COVID-19 in EU

The COVID-19 pandemic dealt the hardest blow to the arts and entertainment sector as well as the retail, wholesale and food services in the European Union (EU), Eurostat statistics issued on Wednesday revealed.

According to the EU’s statistical office, the sectors were hit both in terms of gross value added (GVA) and the number of hours worked by employees during the pandemic.

Declines in compensation of employees and employment were observed in most industries, but to a lesser extent, reflecting government support schemes, showed the Eurostat report about the impact of COVID-19 on industries.

Information and communication activities saw a different trend with 0.9 percent increase in the number of persons employed and 1.1 percent increase in the compensation of employees.

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The same trend was observed, though to a lesser extent, for public administration, defense, education, human health and social work activities, which saw a 0.3 percent increase in the number of persons employed and 0.5 percent increase in compensation.

GVA and hours worked decreased in all industries in the first quarter of 2020 across the EU, Eurostat said.

Source: MTI/Xinhua