Hungary to put state guarantees of $1.5 bln behind loans to firms

Hungary's government will put around 500 billion forints ($1.51 billion) worth of state guarantees behind preferential loans granted to Hungarian firms to help them weather the coronavirus crisis, a senior minister said on Tuesday.

Hungary's Minister of Innovation and Technology Laszlo Palkovics told a news conference that the government would grant loans to companies worth about 2 trillion forints.

Hungary would raise its budget deficit to 2.7% of economic output this year from a targeted 1% to help fund measures to jump-start the economy, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Monday. [nL8N2BU38T ] ($1 = 331.2000 forints)