Among the 27 European Union member states Hungary grants the largest direct state aid to multinational companies in terms of gross domestic product, national daily Magyar Nemzet said on Tuesday, quoting a recent European Commission report.
Large companies last year received 2.5 billion euros, which accounted for 2.38 percent of Hungary’s gross domestic product. The volume of the aid two years ago was 1.43 billion, accounting for 1.42 percent of the GDP.
None of the other 26 member states had been allocating such large amounts using state money, the paper said, noting that even the second after Hungary, Malta, provided an amount equalling to 2 percent of that country’s GDP to multinational companies in 2008.
Companies in the industry and services sectors received the largest share, 1.81 percent of GDP, of direct state aid last year, which was four times the EU average, the paper said.