The government will extend the food price freeze until August 1, after which the measure will cease; starting next January 1, the amount of the childcare loan and the village allowance will increase, but for settlements with more than 5,000 people, the government is developing a new support system - these are the most important moments of Thursday's Government Info.

Gergely Gulyás, the minister in charge of the Prime Minister's Office, justified the introduction of the food price freeze by saying that, according to current forecasts, inflation will decrease significantly in August, to around 15 percent, and that the acceleration of the reduction in inflation will continue in the fall.

The minister also announced that the government will increase the currently prescribed 10 percent rate of mandatory promotions to 15 percent, and the mandatory promotions will also be extended to those product groups that have so far been subject to the food price freeze.

In relation to the mandatory promotions, he explained that, in the thirty days before the weekly promotion period, the shops must sell the discount products at a price at least 15 percent more favorable than the lowest gross price applied by the store in the future. For price-stop products, the lowest price cannot be taken into account, since that is the price-stop price, so in this case they start from the gross supplier price and must reduce it by 15 percent.

According to his assessment, price caps were an effective tool in the fight against inflation. He added: the government sees it as realistic that it will be able to break down inflation and that it will be in single digits by the end of the year, and according to current forecasts, this will even happen before December.

Among the new tools to be introduced, Gergely Gulyás mentioned the online price monitoring system, the mandatory promotions, the fact that from August 1 the SZÉP card can also be used for cold food, as well as the fact that the employer can give an additional HUF 200,000 subsidy for the SZÉP card above its previous value limit.

The head of the department announced that the rules for the baby loan and the CSOK will change from next January 1. The government reviewed the family support system and saw that in recent years, and especially since the outbreak of the war, conditions have fundamentally changed, because the war, the sanctions responses to it and high inflation have fundamentally re-evaluated the usefulness of the current supports, he said in justification. Gergely Gulyás.

In the case of the baby loan, the government wants to encourage women to have children as early as possible, so from January 1, 2024, married couples where the woman is under 30 can take it out. They will also introduce a transition period between January 2024 and January 1, 2025, when even women between the ages of 30 and 40 will be eligible if they can prove their pregnancy. The amount of the loan will be increased from 10 to 11 million.

Gergely Gulyás also announced that the rules of the CSOK in the village will be maintained, and from January 1, 2024, the budget amounts will be increased by 50 percent, and in some cases even more. At the same time, it will not be possible to use the CSOK in the cities from next January, the government entrusted the Ministry of Culture and Innovation, which is responsible for family affairs, with developing a new support system for settlements with more than 5,000 inhabitants.

This was justified by the fact that real estate prices rose well above the rate of inflation, especially in the big cities and in Budapest, which is why the number of CSOK applications in the bigger cities dropped significantly in the recent period.

Gergely Gulyás said: Today, the CSOK mostly operates in smaller settlements, where taking it and the deductible is enough to buy the property, but in big cities, cities with county rights and Budapest, a bank loan had to be taken out in addition to the CSOK and the deductible. He added that after bank lending practically stopped, because few people take out loans at such interest rates, the number of CSOK applications also decreased significantly.

The village chocolate can still be used for the purchase or construction of a new apartment or house, as well as for the renovation or expansion of existing apartments, and the possibility of a VAT discount of up to HUF 5 million remains.

The budget amounts will increase next year: for the construction or purchase of a new family home, the previous HUF 600,000 subsidy for 1 child will increase to HUF 1 million, for 2 children from HUF 2.6 million to HUF 4 million, and for 3 children from HUF 10 million to HUF 15 million. And for the modernization of an existing apartment, the subsidy amount increases from HUF 300,000 to HUF 500,000 for one child, from HUF 1.3 million to HUF 2 million for two children, and HUF 5 million to HUF 7.5 million for three children, explained Gergely Gulyás.

MTI