Hungary to create $2 billion anti-coronavirus fund partly from taxing banks

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's government has created a $2 billion special fund to aid the fight against the new coronavirus and it will include contributions from banks and foreign retailers, a top official said on Saturday.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Chief of Staff, Gergely Gulyas, told an online press briefing that Hungarian banks will be expected to pay 55 billion forints ($163 million) in the fund this year, with multinational retailers adding 36 billion forints.

Local governments will have to divert vehicle taxes amounting to a total of 34 billion forints to the fund, while political parties will pay half of their central budget revenue to the fund for a total of 1.2 billion forints.

(Reporting by Marton Dunai; Editing by Mark Heinrich)