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 sees double-digit economic rebound in Q2 from last year s crash Hungary s economy is expected to grow by 13.8% in the second quarter, rebounding sharply from last year s crash due to lockdowns imposed to contain the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the finance minister said on Thursday. The economy will probably still have contracted in the fourth quarter of 2020 and do the same in the first quarter of this year amid continued lockdowns in effect since Nov. 11, Finance Minister Mihaly Varga said.Reuters | Updated: 04-02-2021 16:27 IST | Created: 04-02-2021 16:13 IST
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Hungary s economy is expected to grow by 13.8% in the second quarter, rebounding sharply from last year s crash due to lockdowns imposed to contain the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the finance minister said on Thursday.
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Hungarian PM On Procuring Vaccines Around The World
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Thursday said it did not matter where the country s coronavirus vaccine supply came from as his government procured shots from Russia and China as well as the West.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Thursday said it did not matter where the country s coronavirus vaccine supply came from as his government procured shots from Russia and China as well as the West.
Speaking at an online meeting for the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Orban said vaccine sourcing was not a political issue.
Vaccinations in Hungary proceed slowly amid confusion over rollout plan
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Vaccinations against the coronavirus proceeded slowly in Hungary this week as signs indicated a lack of sufficient planning and organization to administer greater quantities of the vaccine as they become available.
Deliveries of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine continued to arrive in small quantities, with a new shipment of 39,000 doses arriving on Tuesday. Nearly 160,000 doses of the vaccine have been delivered to Hungary so far, enough to inoculate around 79,000 people with the two-step injection. As of Wednesday, 21,000 healthcare workers had been vaccinated since December 26 at the country s 25 injection sites, a relatively low number one prominent infectious diseases expert said could be due to the high level of vaccine skepticism in Hungary including among healthcare workers.
PMO Head: Hungary Health Care Proved World-Class in Pandemic
Hungarian health-care workers deserve praise for providing the best possible care during the coronavirus pandemic, the prime minister’s chief of staff said on Thursday. The health-care system deployed enough doctors, nurses and equipment at all times, he said.
In an interview to commercial broadcaster atv, Gergely Gulyás slammed the opposition for putting all their efforts into “smear campaigns against the government and the health-care system, and into producing fake videos lambasting nurses.”
The pandemic-related mortality rate puts Hungarian health care on par with French, Swedish and Croatian services, Gulyás said. That achievement is in itself ample justification for the “enormous and unprecedented” wage rise for doctors, which will come into effect on Friday, with a law outlawing gratuity payments, he said. The same goes for the 72 percent wage rise for nurses due during the next cycle, he said.