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PM Orbán: “Ukraine’s independence and viability a vested Hungarian interest”
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Orbán said that in spite of the crisis, Hungarian investment capital abroad had been “turbo-charged”. He noted the government decision to ensure that whatever profits are repatriated by foreign companies operating in Hungary should be matched by the repatriation of profits by Hungarian companies operating abroad.
Read the previous part of Viktor Orbán’s speech in THIS article.
“Only this way can Hungarian economy be kept in balance,” he said, noting new foreign investments by oil and gas company MOL and OTP Bank among others.
Meanwhile, the prime minister referred to the continuation of support schemes for Hungarian communities abroad, noting that the government has built 170 kindergartens in neighbouring countries and renovated 790.
Orbán told supporters that during the crisis, too, Hungary had eschewed “the recipes of Brussels” in favour of its “own path”. Referring to central bank governor György Matolcsy and finance minister Mihály Varga, he said Hungary had adopted “the Matolcsy-Varga cure” for relaunching the economy. Rather than stepping on the brakes, economic policy overtook in a corner, he said.
Orbán said that notwithstanding the risks, the country’s economic growth had reached 7 percent amid the pandemic in 2021. The public debt, meanwhile, was kept below 80 percent of GDP and was on course to fall to 77 percent by year-end, he added.
The prime minister chided the left wing for not voting for legal measures to protect against Covid-19, adding that the opposition had also failed to vote for the credit moratorium, the increased minimum wage, the family tax rebate, tax relief for workers below the age of 25, and other tax cuts.
The Gyurcsány-Bajnai government, he added, had done the opposite to the current government in a crisis, abolishing the 13-month pension and home-building schemes, as well as the family tax credit, among others, while introducing a fee for visiting the GP and hospitals.
Meanwhile, surveying foreign policy, the prime minister noted that Hungary was “surrounded by unstable regions”, including the Western Balkans.