BUDAPEST, Dec 24 (Reuters) – Hungary will spend an additional 861.8 billion forints ($2.91 billion) this year on various projects, including preparations for a vaccine factory and pre-financing 2021 investments, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday.
The ministry said the new spending would not affect this year’s budget deficit target, previously raised to 9% of gross domestic product due to the costs of fighting the coronavirus pandemic amid a sharper-than-expected economic downturn.
The exact cost of the vaccine factory was not clear from the statement. The press office of the ministry did not immediately respond to further questions about the factory’s annual production capacity, or when it could be launched.
Surgeon General Cecilia Muller said in May that the planned factory would help Hungary become self-sufficient in the supply of mandatory and optional vaccines and could also help combat the pandemic.
In a video posted on the government’s Facebook page, Muller then said that the plant would cover domestic needs.
Hungary plans to start COVID-19 inoculations on Sunday, with doctors, nurses and intensive care unit staff first in line to receive Pfizer’s vaccine, the government has said.
The Finance Ministry said Thursday’s new spending also included 44.5 billion forints to settle the debt of hospitals, as well as investments to upgrade disinfection infrastructure.
As of Wednesday, Hungary had reported 308,262 COVID-19 cases with 8,616 deaths and 114,631 recoveries. Earlier this week the government said the second wave of the pandemic appears to have peaked in Hungary. ($1 = 296.55 forints) (Reporting by Gergely Szakacs Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
