Submitting the bill to László Kövér, the house speaker, Nagy said that the most important question for 2026 was whether “Hungarian money would go to Ukraine”. He added that the Brussels bureaucracy and the majority of the European Parliament wanted to require European countries, and Hungary too, to support and arm Ukraine.
He said the 2026 budget bill earmarked Hungary’s resources for Hungarian families, not Ukraine. The anti-war budget puts families with children first, he added.
Nagy said HUF 4.8 trillion had been allocated for family policy goals next year. Including spending on the regulated utilities price scheme for households, family support will add up to HUF 5.6 tln, he added.
Hungary will undertake Europe’s biggest tax cut programme in the interest of families, he said, adding that a personal income tax exemption for mothers of two and three children would add up to HUF 320 bln and the doubling of the family tax allowance would come to HUF 290 bln. Tax preferences will leave more than HUF 1.3 tln with families, he said.
Pension-related expenditures, affecting over 2 million people, will come to HUF 7.7 tln in 2026, including an annual pensioners’ bonus and an expected growth-linked premium, he said.
A 13pc minimum wage rise will be applied in public administration, while salaries for people on municipal council payrolls will climb by 15%, following a 15% pay rise in 2025, too, he said. Increases of teachers’ salaries will continue, and Hungarians in uniform will get a bonus equivalent to six-month’s salary, adding up to HUF 450 bln, he added.
Interest payments on retail government securities will come to HUF 800 bln in 2026, he said.
The budget earmarks HUF 5.5 tln for spending on economic development, including around HUF 2,850bn from national resources, he said. Investment spending will come close to HUF 1.6 tln, he added.
Spending on border defence and protection against illegal migration will come to HUF 2.016 tln, or 2% of GDP, he said. Expenditures on extraordinary security measures will add up to HUF 1.7 tln, he added.
Over HUF 4 tln will go to education and HUF 3.919 tln to healthcare. Over HUF 653 bln has been allocated for cultural activities and more than HUF 135 bln for church activities.
Expenditures earmarked for social and welfare institution services will rise by close to HUF 223 bln to HUF 1.6 tln.
Köver said the debate of the budget would start on May 20, and lawmakers could submit amendments to the bill until May 22. Those amendments will be cleared by MPs on June 10, and the final vote will take place on June 16, he added.
Fielding questions, Nagy said insurers had pledged on Tuesday to voluntarily adjust premiums in line with a request from the government, thus no regulatory intervention would be required.
He said consumption would remain the engine of economic growth in 2025 and highlighted the performance of the retail and tourism sectors. Performance of the industrial sector and investments hinges in large part on the recovery of the German economy, he added.
Nagy said the budget bill was drafted assuming a HUF/EUR rate of 403. It assumes average annual inflation of 4.5% in 2025 and 3.6% in 2026, he added.
CPI could fall under 4% around June, he said. As long as food price inflation is over 5%, a government-mandated cap on markups for a range of food products is justified, he added.
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