SME rate freeze to end April 1
A rate freeze on SME credit will end on April 1, as lending rates are expected to fall under the 7.77 percent threshold set in November 2022, the national economy ministry said on Thursday.
The ministry said the rate freeze had saved over 50,000 SMEs, with close to 1,500 billion forints (EUR 3.78bn) in loans, around 150 billion forints. It added that that the benchmark three-month Budapest Interbank Offered Rate (BUBOR) had stood over 16.5 percent when the measure was rolled out.
The ministry noted that lenders had voluntarily agreed to reduce, temporarily, their spreads on corporate credit over the BUBOR to 0 percent from February 1 for a period of three months.
