Hungary govt expands tax relief measures, suspends evictions - PM Orban

Hungary's government will extend further help to small business owners to help them weather the economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic and it will suspend evictions, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Monday.

More than 80,000 small businesses will receive an exemption from tax payments until after the crisis, as will media companies that suffer from falling advertising revenue, Orban said in a televised statement. Evictions will be suspended, and maternity benefits will be extended until after the epidemic as well, Orban added. The government has in the past evicted people who fell behind on mortgage repayments or failed to pay rent on state housing.

Hungary has so far reported 167 confirmed cases of coronavirus and seven deaths, but Orban said the real number of infections was probably much greater and that Hungary was set to experience a big increase in cases. Orban's right-wing government has already unveiled some measures to help the economy, including tax breaks for small businesses and freezing loan repayments until the end of the year for all companies and borrowers.

The finance minister said last week that Hungary's economy would recover only very slowly from the blow dealt by the coronavirus pandemic.