Hungarian government to introduce further price caps

The government is planning to introduce further price caps in the coming weeks, Viktor Orbán told public radio on Friday, adding that latest National Consultation public survey on sanctions imposed in response to the Russia-Ukraine war “is important to help everyone realise we are all in danger”.

Interest on business loans will be capped at 7.7-8 percent, the prime minister said, adding that banks will have to absorb the related costs. Interfering with a complex economic system “is never good” but necessary to handle certain types of crisis, Orbán said. The government is working to push inflation into single digits by the end of 2023, he said, adding that high prices were driven largely by sanctions imposed in response to the Russia-Ukraine war.

Orban: Hungary can secure its own gas supplies

Hungary is able to secure gas supplies for itself, “unlike the westerners”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said. “We’re more adept at getting gas on our own than if we were to wait for others,” the prime minister told Kossuth Rádió, explaining why Hungary was opting out of joint European Union purchases of gas. Hungary would only lose out on such a programme, so it supports voluntary participation, he added.

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Orbán also criticised the EU’s solidarity mechanism aimed at avoiding sharp disparities of gas supply across the bloc. Hungary rejects the idea of a mandatory mechanism as this would mean that after securing enough gas to cover its annual consumption, the country would have to turn over its supplies to countries that do not have enough gas owing to the sanctions imposed on Russia.

Orbán: Calls for peace growing in Europe

He has said he expects calls in the European Union for a ceasefire and peace talks in connection with the Russia-Ukraine war to grow. The prime minister said tensions at last week’s EU summit had run high, and the demand for peace was growing in all countries. “Common sense will prevail sooner or later,” he said.

Orbán said wars could end only with an agreement between the warring parties. “Taking the war to its conclusion would prolong it for years to come,”

he said. The prime minister said the “pro-war West” would have to foot the bill for rebuilding Ukraine and running the country. “The talk is of unimaginably large numbers,” Orbán added. “Even before the war, Ukraine couldn’t make enough money to fund the cost of living of the Ukrainian people,” he said.

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Source: MTI