Hungarian government borrows EUR183 million from AIIB

Hungary has finalized a new agreement with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on the provision of EUR183 million (HUF64 billion) to fund developments in Hungarian health care, Finance Minister Mihály Varga said on Wednesday.

According to a Facebook video posted by Varga, Hungary will receive the funds at a below-market interest rate.

This funding marks AIIB’s first to be allocated outside Asia. The priority in the application of this fund will be renovation and upgrade of 17 hospitals, as well as purchasing diagnostic equipment and protective gear.

László Balogh, a state secretary of the finance ministry, stated that the funding provides Hungary’s healthcare system with a more solid foundation, adding that it guarantees that the “funding and development of Hungarian health care has more than one leg to stand on”.

Hungary became a part of the AIIB, one of the newest and most important multilateral development banks on a global scale, in 2017.