(Adds Orban’s comments on economy, new loan)
BUDAPEST, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Hungary’s vaccination drive will accelerate and could potentially enable the country to ease coronavirus restrictions in April after Easter, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Thursday.
Nationalist Orban, who will face parliamentary elections in early 2022, is under pressure to reopen the economy.
Finance Minister Mihaly Varga said the economy was likely to shrink again in the first quarter but that the second quarter could be a turning point, forecasting gross domestic product would rebound by 13.8% from the same period last year when the country entered a severe lockdown as the pandemic hit.
UPDATE 2-Hungary PM flags easing of lockdown after Easter, economy rebounding in Q2 Reuters 2/4/2021
(Adds Orban s comments on economy, new loan)
By Krisztina Than and Anita Komuves
BUDAPEST, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Hungary s vaccination drive will accelerate and could potentially enable the country to ease coronavirus restrictions in April after Easter, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Thursday.
Nationalist Orban, who will face parliamentary elections in early 2022, is under pressure to reopen the economy.
Finance Minister Mihaly Varga said the economy was likely to shrink again in the first quarter but that the second quarter could be a turning point, forecasting gross domestic product would rebound by 13.8% from the same period last year when the country entered a severe lockdown as the pandemic hit.
Hungary's medicine authority will hopefully give a "clear answer" in a few days on whether a coronavirus vaccine developed by China could be used to start mass inoculations, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told state radio on Friday.
Decision in line with expectations To maintain gap between base rate and one-week rate Some analysts see policy easing in 2021
BUDAPEST, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The National Bank of Hungary (NBH) left interest rates steady on Tuesday and flagged that it would remain cautious in its monetary policy going forward, despite cutting back its economic growth forecast for next year.
The bank signalled no imminent change to its one-week deposit rate either, saying global market risks have remained high despite an improvement over the past weeks.
The bank said inflation was likely to be 3.5-3.6% in 2021 before returning to around its 3% target in 2022.
CORRECTED-UPDATE 1-Hungary will seek to annul rule-of-law conditionality regulation in EU court msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.