Orbán cabinet to launch EUR 1.8bn bn business credit scheme

Hungary’s government will launch a 700 billion forint (EUR 1.8bn) subsidised credit scheme for businesses from February, the ministry of economic development said on Monday.

Credit in the Baross Gábor Reindustrialisation Programme will be available to businesses, regardless of size, for investment or working capital loans. Rates for credit will be capped at 6 percent for forint loans and 3.5 percent for euro loans but will be even lower for investments that boost energy efficiency.

The ministry noted that commercial lending rates for businesses now stand over 20 percent.

The ministry said the scheme will give businesses a chance to refinance a “large volume” of maturing 2.5 percent credit taken out in the framework of the Funding for Growth Scheme of the National Bank of Hungary (NBH).

The programme will be funded by Magyar Eximbank.

The government is pumping around 3,000 billion forints in business credit into the economy this year in the framework of Magyar Eximbank, Hungarian Development Bank (MFB) and Széchenyi Card programmes, the ministry said.