The government provides approximately HUF 23 billion in support to 32 settlements with more than twenty-five thousand inhabitants. During the decision, the cabinet enforced the principles of fairness and proportionality, the Prime Minister's Office told MTI on Thursday.
At the government's meeting on Wednesday, it decided to provide operating support to 27 settlements in a worse-than-average financial situation, and development funds to 5 non-county towns.
The total value of the government subsidies is about HUF 23 billion - read the announcement, in which it was written: the decision was not determined by party political considerations, but by the principles of need, proportionality and fairness. The Prime Minister's Office announced that both pro-government and opposition settlements benefit from the government's additional benefits.
In the case of other settlements, the government will support local investments aimed at restarting the economy. Regarding the capital city and the districts of Budapest, the government also decided at Wednesday's meeting that it will not provide additional benefits for these municipalities for the time being.
They added that Budapest's economic performance is twice the national average, and its level of development is 151 percent of the EU average.
The capital city also has significant financial reserves: its cash and government securities stock exceeds HUF 120 billion, the announcement states. They wrote that transport, energy, health, education, urban planning and other infrastructural developments are currently taking place in Budapest from both budget and EU funds worth several thousand billion forints.
In addition, the government plans to allocate 20 percent of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), about HUF 500 billion, to Budapest, and several hundred billion HUF to developments aimed at the agglomeration. The list of settlements supported by the government with Wednesday's decision can be found on the government portal , the Prime Minister's Office announced.
In the announcement, it was recalled that the government implemented a tax reduction at the end of last year, limiting the upper limit of the local business tax for small entrepreneurs to 1 percent, thus leaving about HUF 150 billion for small businesses in a difficult situation due to the crisis caused by the coronavirus.
They emphasized that reducing tax burdens helps protect jobs. At that time, the government also decided to fully reimburse the lost business tax revenues for settlements with less than 25,000 inhabitants. This is an amount equivalent to approximately HUF 50 billion.
Source: MTI
Photo: origo.hu
