Hungary's central bank on Thursday announced a new lending programme called the Funding for Growth Scheme, to improve the financing conditions for small and medium-sized firms.
Newly appointed Magyar Nemzeti Bank chief Gyorgy Matolcsy said the central bank will provide refinancing loans with a preferential interest rate for commercial banks for a temporary period. The HUF 250 billion lending scheme will have zero percent interest rate.
The financial institutions that take part in the programme will in turn provide loans to small and medium-sized enterprises, with a maximum interest rate of 2 percent.
Also the central bank intends to provide a limited amount of preferential refinancing loans for the conversion of SME's outstanding foreign currency loans into forints. The bank intends to use its reserves to help SMEs to pay off their foreign denominated debt.
At the same time, it suspended the two-year secured loan tender for an indefinite period of time.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.