Hungary’s Orban Signals $1.8 Billion Pre-Election Pension Bonus

Hungary’s government is planning to send out an extra monthly pension payment in a bid to win over retirees as part of voter-friendly measures ahead of next April’s elections.

The government is “working at full force” on a plan to introduce a 14th monthly pension, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a post on social media on Thursday, framing the move as part of a long-standing pledge to protect pensioners’ purchasing power. His government restored 13th monthly pension payments for the country’s more than 2 million retirees in 2020 as part of its pandemic stimulus.