Burden-sharing is needed in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, to this end, the Hungarian government has established a coronavirus protection fund, to which political parties, local governments, multinational companies and banks must also contribute, Gergely Gulyas, the head of the PM’s Office, said on Saturday.

In Hungary, all necessary financial resources have been provided from the budget for the fight against coronavirus, and the purchase of equipment is also ongoing, the head of the Prime Minister s Office declared.

Gergely Gulyas said that the most important thing now is to provide the necessary resources for the defence. A coronavirus protection fund has been set up, to which resources have also been reallocated from the central budget. The government has so far reallocated 3.8 billion euros from the ministries, but expects a joint burden-sharing, so it also obliges local governments, parties, multinational companies and banks to contribute to the fund.

Accordingly, the vehicle tax the local governments entitled for will be transferred to the coronavirus protection fund, which means 97 million euros, just like 50 per cent of the support of political parties, about 3.5 million euros. Multinational companies are also taxed, and the resulting 103 million euros along with the 157 million euros from banks will also be used for defence. So far, more than 1.8 billion euros have been transferred to the coronavirus protection fund, the minister announced.