Orban to delay $5b Budapest Airport deal on budget deficit

Bloomberg

Hungary will delay the purchase of Budapest Airport because of a ballooning budget deficit, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.
The surprise announcement, delivered at a briefing, followed a warning by central bank Governor Gyorgy Matolcsy, who said last week that the size of the purchase threatened the country’s financial stability amid record spending before elections expected in April.
“Buying back the airport before elections, I don’t see that as realistic,” Orban said at a joint news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron and leaders from central Europe.
The fiscal space has narrowed after the European Union’s
executive decided to delay billions of euros in the bloc’s pandemic aid to Hungary due to graft concerns. Macron said a disbursement of the funding was unlikely before April’s vote.
Orban’s announcement came a month after Hungary’s government started due diligence of Budapest Airport. Bloomberg has reported that the government is seeking to buy the hub as part of a consortium that includes refiner Mol Nyrt and real estate company Indotek, whose owner Daniel Jellinek has had business deals with Orban’s family.
“The shareholders of Budapest Airport have agreed to stop the due diligence process and to remain in dialog with the Hungarian government,” AviAlliance, a Germany-based airport management company and the hub’s biggest shareholder, said.