Steven N.Márton Nagy, the Minister for Economic Development in the new government, recently said that the Hungarian state would save about 1.2 trillion Ft. (US $3.31 billion) on itself by reducing ministry budgets and curbing state-sponsored investment projects. He promised to cut ministry budgets by 10%, saving the government 500 billion Ft. ($1.38 billion) next year.
However, the budgets of the ministries do not appear to have been cut at all in the 2023 draft budget plan, with nearly every ministry getting more money to manage next year than this one.
Of course, the budgets of the current ministries cannot be compared on an equal basis with those that appeared in the 2022 budget, as the government structure has been completely reorganized since then.
But if the expenditures of all the ministries are added together, it becomes apparent that this amount not only did not decrease compared to 2022, but even increased significantly: nearly 1.6 trillion Ft. ($4.41 billion) in extra spending will be set aside for the ministries in 2023 compared to the current year.
In addition, the Office of the President of the Republic has also been allocated a much larger budget to manage, despite not having received any additional responsibilities. [444]
It seems paranormal that obvious themes such as the derelict health system and the antiquated school system, let alone defense, haven’t made it to the new govt. headlines yet.