Before the recent Christmas holidays, and inspired by the central budget surplus, the Hungarian government announced it would send Hungarian pensioners vouchers worth HUF 10,000 that they could use for purchasing food products in stores.
The vouchers were sent via state-owned postal company Magyar Posta; the government, which has received wide-ranging criticism from opposition parties, has not yet revealed the cost of doing so.
To make matters worse, it seems the vouchers are not redeemable outside Hungary.
According to the RTL II evening news, a total of 32,550 letters were sent, including the vouchers. It calculates that posting each could have cost HUF 1,200, which would mean HUF 52.2 million was spent on the exercise. RTL reported that, in some cases, the vouchers have been sent as far as Australia.
The broadcaster said when it asked the government about the matter, it was told the aim was to make the voucher available to everybody, regardless of his or her place of residence.
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