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End-of-year assessments on government spending

December 30th, 2016

A pro-government columnist points out that the government has kept the deficit under control while at the same time it has managed to cut taxes. A critic of the government, on the other hand, thinks the state offers too heavy subsidies to multinationals.

Magyar Idők’s Gergely Kiss praises the government for keeping the deficit under control while at the same cutting taxes in order to boost investment and demand. Through the tax cuts, all Hungarian citizens can enjoy the benefits of growth, the pro-government columnist writes. The government has managed to restore the balance of the budget without relying on help from the IMF, he notes. As for the future, Kiss is confident that the wise use of EU funds will further boost the economy, and growth can double in 2017.

In Magyar Nemzet, Kinga Facsinay finds problematic the government’s subsidies to multinational companies. The conservative commentator recalls that in 2016, the government subsidized every new workplace created by large firms by 12.2 million Forints on average. This is twice the amount that was spent on each new workplace in 2015, Facsinay calculates. She claims that this creates a double imbalance. Firstly, the support of large multinational companies leaves less money to be spent on small and medium size ones. Secondly, supporting multinational firms is less advantageous for the Hungarian economy, as these companies operate assembly plants producing lower-than-average added value.

 

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