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The volume of support for corporate investments, awarded with a "tight deadline" for completion, is the "most important" feature of the governmentʼs crisis management policy distinguishing it from those implemented in other countries, Orbán said in a weekly interview on Kossuth Rádió.
He said the measures are an example of policy-makers "overtaking on a bend", borrowing a phrase from National Bank of Hungary governor György Matolcsy.
"Several hundred Hungarian businesses didnʼt shut down or make layoffs during the crisis, rather they made a commitment to mobilize their saved money to buy machinery, make investments and create jobs if the state gives them support," he said.
The PM said that support would create an "investment boom" in 2021 "unlike any in a long time".
"We will come out of the crisis in better shape than we went in," he added.
Orbán argued Hungarians shouldnʼt think of EU funding as "handouts" from somebody whoʼs "richer and stronger", but as "payback" for letting Western European companies do business in the country while it was "a lap behind" after decades of communist rule. He also added that Hungary deserves a "certain, equitable" part of the repatriated profits of foreign-owned multinationals.
The PM said EU funding for the economic recovery that Hungary gets would go towards upgrading the countryʼs waterworks, restructuring the system of environmental protection, and transforming the energy system, noting that these projects could be implemented quickly.
