Hungary’s tourism sector needs a new strategy after a “tragic” year in which aid from the Hungarian government was the only lifeline it could count on, the head of the Hungarian Tourism Agency said. Zoltán Guller told Magyar Nemzet that the plunge came after the sector’s largest ever growth in 2019.
István Ujhelyi, an MEP for the opposition Socialists, has called on the government to immediately provide 100 billion forints (EUR 279m) to Hungary’s tourism, catering and cultural sector’s players and ease coronavirus-related restrictions to help these sectors’ revival.
South Korean company SK Innovation is bringing to Hungary a new 2.3 billion US dollar battery plant in what will be the country’s biggest ever greenfield investment, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said.
Annual wage growth in Hungary was 8.6% in November, edging down from 8.8% in the previous month, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said.
Consultations on a 23 billion forint subsidy programme for corporate investments that boost Hungary’s level of self-sufficiency in the production of medical supplies have started, the Innovation and Technology Ministry said.
Hungary’s three-month rolling average jobless rate was 4.3% in December, edging up 0.2 of a percentage point from the previous month, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said. In absolute terms, there were 200,000 unemployed, 10,000 more than in November and up 59,000 from a year earlier, KSH said.
The opposition Democratic Coalition has called on the government to stop “shamelessly rescuing oligarchs” and provide support to businesses “that genuinely need it” instead.
Three lawmakers of the opposition Jobbik party on Wednesday demanded that the government should pay wage support to those that lost their income as a result of the coronavirus epidemic or alternatively start partially reopening the country in a controlled manner.
Socialist MEP István Ujhelyi is turning to the courts to obtain data on government support for Hungarian hotels worth three billion forints (EUR 83.6m).
American automotive companies BorgWarner and Jabil are launching investments in Hungary worth a combined 12 billion forints (EUR 33.5m) and will receive 4.4 billion forints of government support, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said.
