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The Minister for National Economy called the 2026 budget an “anti-war budget” during Wednesday’s general debate in the National Assembly. Márton Nagy said that next year’s budget aims to ward off the harmful effects of the war continuing in Hungary’s neighborhood and focuses on supporting families with children, young people, and pensioners.
In his opening speech, the Minister said that the budget will guarantee the security of all Hungarian families and ensure that everyone is able to take another step forward. Accordingly, he added,
the budget guarantees the prerequisites for a work-based society, i.e., record high employment and record low unemployment, and ensures the continuation of national and family-centered policies.
Márton Nagy emphasized that next year the government will implement Europe’s largest family tax reduction program, maintain utility bill cuts, guarantee the payment of the thirteenth month pension, protect jobs, and help create new ones. In addition to all this, the 2026 budget also includes wage increases, with the government expecting a GDP growth of 4.1 percent next year, inflation of 3.6 percent, and a deficit of 3.7 percent of GDP. The Minister added that in 2026, the planned deficit will be equal to interest expenditure, and the GDP-ratio public debt will fall from 73.5 percent in 2024 to 72.3 percent next year.
He pointed out that next year, the budget will pay Hungarian families HUF 800 billion (EUR 1.98 billion) in interest on government securities held by the population. Among the most important measures for next year, he highlighted “Europe’s largest family tax reduction program,” the doubling of family tax benefits for children, and income tax exemption for mothers under 40 with two children. Nagy stated that
HUF 4,800 billion will be spent on supporting families, together with HUF 800 billion on protecting utility bill cuts, making a total of HUF 5,600 billion (EUR 13.9 billion).
Next year, approximately HUF 377 billion (EUR 935.8 million) will be allocated to personal income tax exemptions for mothers, HUF 290 billion (EUR 719.8 million) to increasing family allowances, and HUF 237.5 billion (EUR 589.5 million) to the personal income tax exemption for young people under the age of 25, he explained.
He also noted that in accordance with the wage agreement, the minimum wage will increase by 13 percent from January 2026, and the budget will provide for six months of law enforcement and national defense weaponry. Nagy stressed that the government is working to ensure that the Hungarian economy grows as much as possible;
they are taking action against price increases, have introduced margin reductions, and banks, insurance companies, and telecommunications companies have voluntarily limited their service fees.
He added that negotiations have also been opened to reduce the prices of unsubsidized medicines.
According to the Minister’s presentation, approximately HUF 5,050 billion (EUR 12.5 billion) will be spent on economic development in 2026, of which HUF 2,200 billion will come from the European Union and HUF 2,850 billion from the domestic budget. Next year, funding will continue to be provided for the 21-point New Economic Policy Action Plan, which aims to increase purchasing power, ensure affordable housing, and support small and medium-sized enterprises under the Demján Sándor Program. He recalled that hundreds of investments will start or continue in 2026, including in transport infrastructure, education, and healthcare. The investments are meant to boost the economy and create jobs, he said, adding that the Hungarian economy is expected to grow faster in 2026.
The Minister announced that the budget will increase the amount allocated to pensions and pension-type benefits to HUF 7,700 billion (EUR 19.1 billion), which is HUF 500 billion more than this year’s allocation, and that they expect to pay a pension bonus of around HUF 24 billion next year.
Next year, HUF 3,919 billion (EUR 9.7 billion) will be available for healthcare, which is HUF 280 billion more than this year’s resources, he pointed out. He also said that
defense spending will reach 2% of GDP in 2026, with a total of HUF 2,016 billion (EUR 5 billion) earmarked for defense, which is more than a 15% increase compared to last year.
He added that law enforcement spending will approach HUF 1,700 billion (EUR 4.2 billion) next year, and more than HUF 4,000 billion (EUR 9.9 billion) will be allocated to education, which is more than HUF 160 billion more than in 2025.
According to Nagy, HUF 653 billion (EUR 1.6 billion) will be allocated to culture, and approximately HUF 1,419 billion (EUR3.5 billion) will be included in the budget to support local governments, which is HUF 114 billion more than the 2025 estimate.
He indicated that, in the case of EU funds, they are counting on the scheduled implementation of the programs for the 2021-2027 budget cycle: overall, EU programs are expected to receive more than HUF 2,700 billion in payments (EUR 6.7 billion) and approximately HUF 1,800 billion (EUR 4.4 billion) in EU revenue, while Hungary will contribute HUF 789 billion (EUR 1.9 billion) to the EU budget.
In order to ensure the stability of the 2026 budget, the reserve has been increased from the originally planned HUF 50 billion to HUF 192 billion (EUR 476.5 million), he concluded.
Via MTI, Featured photo via MTI/Soós Lajos
