Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that as part of its action plan to relaunch the economy after the coronavirus pandemic, the Hungarian government has decided to introduce a new interest-free loan to help SMEs.
According to MTI, PM Orbán said SMEs can raise an interest-free loan with ten-year maturity of up to HUF 10 million (EUR 28,000), with repayments deferred by three years.
PM Orbán told the annual opening meeting of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry that the Hungarian economy was breaking records before the pandemic. Although the economic fallout rocked the economy, it managed to stay on its feet, he said. The government’s action plan to protect the economy has succeeded in its primary goal of preserving jobs, he said.
The prime minister said the number of jobholders reached pre-pandemic levels in December, rebounding to 4.5 million, with the country’s jobless rate being the third in the European Union, he said.
PM Orbán noted that the government introduced a loan moratorium and a wage support scheme to support particularly hard-hit sectors. To bolster vulnerable players, the social contributions were scrapped and the business tax slashed by half, he said. The investment support scheme has helped 1,434 companies so far, helping preserve 280,000 jobs while creating tens of thousands of new ones.
Photo credit: Facebook/Orbán Viktor