Hungarian PM's savings dip below national average despite salary hike
Last year, Orban declared 14 million ft (about $46,245) in savings, but this year they decreased to 10 million ft (about $33,031). Surprisingly, this decrease occurred even though his salary was increased in July by more than 620 thousand ft (around $2,048).
Feb 1, 2024 | updated: 4:33 AM EST, March 7, 2024
According to computations by site 24. hu, Orban's updated monthly salary is 4.18 million ft (around $13,807), excluding income from his parliamentary position, indirectly contributing another 1.55 million ft (around $5,120). The prime minister maintains a joint account with his wife and owns properties in Budapest and Felcsut, his hometown.
At the end of 2023, Bankmonitor revealed that the average household savings in Hungary are 13 million ft (about $42,940), which implies that Orban's declared savings are lesser than this average, according to Index.
However, as pointed out by the economic weekly "HVG," "in Hungary, 83 percent of the financial savings are accumulated in the wealthiest 30 percent of households, while the poorest 30 percent only possess 5 percent".
President Katalin Novak's savings decreased by 10 million ft (about $33,031) to 31 million ft (about $102,397). Apart from her government salary, Novak also earns several thousand forints a month from real estate rentals.
Minister of Defence Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky, who last year declared 1 billion ft (about $3.3 million) in savings, bought two properties, each several hundred square meters large. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has been carrying a debt of 30 million ft (around $99,094) to his parents for another year.
Properties overflowing asset declaration
"For Janos Lazar, the minister of construction and transport, even the basic asset declaration is not sufficient to list all his properties" - writes the portal Index, mentioning that he owns a total of 43 properties.
Ferenc Gyurcsany, the opposition's Democratic Coalition leader and former member of the 50 richest Hungarians, declared savings in securities of 18.3 million ft (around $60,444) compared to 461 million ft (about $1,519,929) last year.
The leader of the nationalist party, Our Homeland Movement (Mi Hazank), Laszlo Toroczkai, declared the purchase of a 170,000 ft (around $600) paved road, covering an area of 5612.86 square feet, leading to his farm. The reason he cited for this was "he had had enough of unauthorized migrants, human traffickers, and other criminals passing through it".
