HUNGARY: There Must Be a Strong Hungarian Entrepreneurial Community, Says PM Orbán

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán delivered a speech at a ceremony to mark the 20th anniversary of the Széchenyi Card Program in Budapest on Tuesday. He stressed that it had been decided to more than double this support. Next year, the program will receive 290 billion forints (EUR 710 million) from the budget, up from 130 billion forints (EUR 318 million) this year.

For 20 years, the Hungarian government has been providing financial solutions for businesses through the Széchenyi Card Program, tailored to their financing needs. The program offers various loans for investment and operational financing, as well as leasing. Since its launch in 2002, the Széchenyi Card Program has received 559,000 loan applications and has concluded nearly 390,000 loan transactions, providing Hungarian SMEs with access to more than HUF 4,600 billion (EUR 11.2 billion) in preferential financing.

At the ceremony, Viktor Orbán said that the government is not doubling the support “out of good will, as interest rates have risen” and so interest subsidies have increased, but everyone knows that “we are facing a difficult year,” so the decision could have been made not to invest so much money in the scheme. He added that another 220 billion forints (EUR 538.5 million) will be given to small and medium-sized enterprises that fall into the energy-intensive category, and a factory-saving program will be announced.

He said that

"large foreign investments target cities and that Hungary cannot succeed without large foreign investments. But they must be accompanied by successful Hungarian businesses, because then Hungary will be a Hungarian country."

He added that alongside large foreign companies there must always be a broad, strong, and stable Hungarian entrepreneurial layer.

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