National Bank of Hungary: Art acquisitions not monetary financing

Budapest, July 31 (MTI) – The central bank’s art acquisition programme is not a type of monetary financing and neither does it use tax income or impact the central budget, the National Bank of Hungary said on Friday.

All acquisitions will be accessible to the general public via museums or public collections, the bank said in a statement.

The programme creates a stable investment while the country is also culturally enriched without drawing on the central budget. It also follows the practice of other European central banks, it added.

Fully 326 pieces of artworks were purchased during the vice-governorship of Zoltan Bodnar, who now advises the Liberal Party and opposes the current acquisition programme. Bodnar has also criticised the central bank’s real estate purchases, yet during his tenure there were far more of these.

Criticism by the opposition Liberals Party and left-wing Democratic Coalition (DK) reveals their poor knowledge of the central bank’s operations and rules, and only aims to gain short-term political advantage, the statement said.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters