Prime Minister Viktor Orbán spoke in Parliament today, prior to its first session in 2014. In his speech he emphasised the importance of the household utility bill cuts and stated that the third utility price cut will be introduced to Parliament, resulting in gas prices decreasing by 6.5% from April 1, electricity prices by 5.7% from September, while the price of district heating would drop by 3.3%.

Prime Minister Orbán said the Government also plans to establish the conditions to create and operate non-profit energy suppliers. This requires Parliament to pass a law enabling the cabinet to set up the first Hungarian non-profit energy suppliers, he added.

The Prime Minister emphasised that the Government has also strengthened its ties with NATO and the alliance of large European nations while developing new economic and trade links worldwide. Important agreements were concluded in India, Japan, Russia and Turkey over the past half a year, and there are plans to conclude new ones in China and Saudi Arabia, he added. The Government has set the "ambitious but not impossible" aim that a third of Hungary's exports should be directed to non-European markets in 2018, Prime Minister Orbán said.

He reminded that Hungary is now in a better position than four years ago and its performance is constantly improving. The budget deficit has consistently stayed below 3% of GDP, and, for the first time since the change in regime, both the trade balance and current-account balance is improving. Inflation has hit a 40-year low, public utility bills have started to decline for the first time in decades and the number of jobholders has increased by 25% over the past four years, he insisted. The 9% rate of unemployment is still high but is falling at an accelerated pace, the Prime Minister highlighted. The minimum wage rise carried out in Hungary was the second highest in the EU, and average wages have increased by 10%, he pointed out.

(Prime Minister's Office)