“Next year’s budget is the budget of supporting families and provides help and security to families raising children”, Minister of Finance Mihály Varga declared when the bill was submitted to Parliament in Budapest on Tuesday.
“The other heavily stressed element of the budget is the provision of funding for the Economy Protection Action Plan, through which the results achieved by the Hungarian economy in recent years can be protected”, the Minister highlighted.
“The Government will be continuing to practice strict and disciplined fiscal policy next year, while spending 224 billion forints (EUR 690 million) more, a total of 2,228 billion forints (EUR 6.87bn) on supporting families, in addition to providing some 500 billion forints (EUR 1.54bn) in assistance to the private sector via the Economy Protection Action Plan”, Mr. Varga stressed.
As he explained, this is the fifth year in a row in which the Cabinet has submitted the draft budget for the following year six months in advance, thereby increasing calculability and enabling enterprises to plan ahead. In 2020, the Government is calculating with economic growth of 4% and a budget deficit target of 1% of GDP, in addition to a further, tangible reduction in the level of sovereign debt. In view of the processes being seen within the European Union and the global economy, the Cabinet has set a higher than ever before reserve level of 1% of GDP.
In the 2020 budget, all priority areas will have more funding available than they did this year. Compared to 2010, 1,261 billion forints (EUR 3.89bn) in additional funding will be available for supporting families, 840 billion (EUR 2.59bn) more for pensions, 1,445 billion (EUR 4.46bn) more for state sector pay rises, and 723 billion (EUR 2.23bn) more for defence and law enforcement expenditure. The career model programmes will be continuing with further pay hikes, in addition to which a new, multi-step pay increase will be beginning within the healthcare sector and the home nursing fee will also be increasing further.
The budget is calculating with 2.8% inflation, assuring the preservation of the purchasing power of pensions, while pensioners will once again also be able to count on receiving a premium. Hungary now has the highest ratio of family funding to GDP, and all of the measures of the Family Protection Action Plan will be introduced from 2020. Even more funding for home creation will be available compared to this year, a total of 296 billion forints (EUR 913 million), while the 150 billion forints (EUR 463 million) in funding earmarked for the Hungarian Village Programme will enable an improvement in the quality of life of the rural population. In addition, the most important political issue remains the immigration negatively affecting Europe, as well as border protection, the required resources for which will also be available next year.