Home construction VAT to revert to 5 pc in Hungary

Budapest, Hungary. Photo: MTI

The VAT rate on home building carried out before December 31, 2022 will revert to 5 percent, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told Hír TV on Wednesday evening.

Referring to Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, Orbán said Katalin Novák, the minister of family affairs, presented the key elements of a new home building programme.

Also, the cabinet approved tax relief and economic recovery measures in connection with the coronavirus put forward by the operative board for economic protective measures.

Elective operations will not be postponed for the time being,

he said, adding that although the epidemic was likely to continue intensifying over the next three weeks, there were no large-scale changes that would warrant a change of policy.

Covid patients are being treated in “frontline” hospitals,

Orbán said, adding that the ratio of doctors and nurses to patients was still easily manageable.

Commenting on a vote by lawmakers on Tuesday to hike doctors’ pay, the prime minister said there was “no time like the present”. He said it was likely that the epidemic would endure for the next 7-8 months, and without a vaccine, doctors would continue to contend with a massive burden.