The Hungarian state has taken out a one billion euro loan from China without any announcement from the government, and the amount was already drawn down in April, portfolio.hu has discovered based on the data on the website of the Public Debt Management Centre (Államadósság Kezelő Központ – ÁKK).
The loan was taken from the Development Bank of China, the Chinese Eximbank and the Hungarian branch of the Bank of China for a three-year term, says Politico.
Chinese companies, such as electric car maker BYD or the technology giant Huawei, have so far invested a total of some €16 billion in the country.
The Hungarian state’s debt in February was of EUR 133 billion.
But this deal with China now represents the biggest outstanding debt of the Hungarian state (not including debenture bonds), which pledged to obtain domestic loans, and so has tried to keep the Chinese affair under wraps. What’s more, it hasn’t yet been publicly clarified what exactly the loan is for.
This is the biggest loan known to be made by Budapest.
