In order to be able to meet the increased budget deficit target for 2024, the government decided in recent days to postpone HUF 675 billion in investment, while regrouping HUF 2,000 billion in subsidies to state-owned enterprises. A significant part of the money was already paid in small amounts, Népszava reports based on data from the Hungarian State Treasury.
According to the Public Finance Portal of the MÁK, eight of the ten largest recipients of subsidies awarded to the budget are state companies. The two exceptions are the Ministry of Construction and Transport, which can count on HUF 224.8 billion, mostly for railway renovations, and the municipality of Nyíregyháza, which will receive HUF 132 billion extra money for the development of the water utility network of the Nyíregyháza Industrial Park.
In the latter case, investment support is practically hidden, because the public money can be linked to the investment in the Chinese battery factory planned in the county seat of Szabolcs, the paper reads.
Based on a unique government decision, MVM CEEnergy received HUF 348.6 billion from the budget to support utility reduction this year alone. Whether this is really justified is a question, because by 2023 European energy prices have practically normalized.
lots of money
The MÁV group will receive an amount equivalent to almost one percent of the total Hungarian GDP, a total of HUF 710 billion
at different addresses. Most of the money goes to operations and a smaller part to development: only HUF 206 billion is consumed by state compensation for the lost fare discounts, an additional HUF 207 billion is accounted for the maintenance of the railway network, but HUF 111.2 billion is also planned for the renovation of the Budapest-Belgrade railway line.
From the point of view of taxpayers, the fate of the HUF 110 billion that goes to support Hungaroring Zrt. is also incomprehensible. The company that operates the Formula 1 track in Mogyoród has started a large-scale renovation of the track with public funds. The organization of the Foma-1 races costs taxpayers almost 20 billion forints per year. A study, also made with public funds, showed that it is indeed worth paying royalties to the Hungarian state. This is peculiar only because neither the Austrian, nor the French, nor the German state is willing to spend public money for such purposes.
Finally, a similar amount of public money goes to support the state-owned Mavir Zrt., which operates the national high-voltage network, the company receives a total of HUF 101 billion, but it was not for network development, but for the support of district heating companies.
Therefore, the validity of some of the subsidies, based solely on the principle of usefulness, would be questionable even in a normal budget period, let alone in a year when the budget collapsed already at the end of the second month.
Tags: staggering amount spent public companies budget collapsing
