The leading independent online business news outlet doubts that the government’s decision to freeze mortgage interest rates will help to keep surging inflation at bay.Continue reading
The government freeze of rates on retail mortgage loans in place for the first half of 2022 will save Hungarian families 30 billion forints (EUR 83.9m), the finance minister said on Sunday.
The government is working to shield families from global price increases, Mihály Varga said in a video posted on Facebook. The scheme to cap utility bills protects Hungarian households from soaring energy prices, he said, noting that the government had also capped fuel prices.
But inflation is also affecting interest rates, the minister said. In the case of floating-rate mortgages, accelerated rate rises could have added 23 percent, or an average 11,000 forints, to borrowers’ monthly installments, he added. Varga said the mortgage rate freeze would save some half a million families a combined 30 billion forints.
He said that in the year ahead the government would continue its fight against the pandemic, keep working to protect families from its effects on the economy, and work to maintain the advantage Hungary had gained by the relatively early restart of its economy.
Featured photo by Zsolt Szigetváry/MTI
