From the 2026 budget audit
360.7 millió Ft topped up to state-owned companies that cannot fund themselves.
A direct capital injection to companies the Energy Ministry owns stakes in — the plainest form of the soft budget constraint: a firm that can be topped up from tax never has to earn its keep.
Roughly 90 Ft per taxpayer per year — 360.7 millió Ft transferred to state-owned firms whose losses the public balance sheet absorbs so they face no discipline to become efficient.
What you see — and what you don't
The seen: state-owned companies receiving a resource grant that keeps them operating. The unseen: the productive private firm that must earn every forint of its capital — and the worker whose payroll contribution funds the competitor that faces no such constraint.
Objection
"State companies provide essential services — they need support to keep running."
Answer
A firm providing an essential service that cannot cover its costs should either raise its price to cost, restructure, or be privatised to an operator that can cover the cost. Topping it up from tax allows it to persist in an unviable form indefinitely. The soft budget constraint — the expectation that the state owner will always cover the gap — removes the incentive that would otherwise force the company to become efficient.
Share if you think state-owned companies should earn their revenue rather than claim it from taxpayers.
The analyst's verdict
Ministry ownership-rights expenditures — Resource grants to other companies
Rationale
A direct capital grant to companies the ministry holds an ownership stake in. A state-owned company that needs a resource injection from the budget is exhibiting the soft budget constraint in its plainest form: a firm facing a hard budget constraint either earns its capital or borrows it against a credible repayment plan, and the discipline of having to do so is what forces it toward efficiency. A firm that can be topped up from the owner's tax revenue faces no such discipline, and the top-up crowds out the productive private capital the same forint could have financed. Immediate Cut; a state-owned company should fund itself from its own revenue or be restructured so that it can.
Transition mechanism
Eliminate in the 2026 cycle. A state-owned company should fund itself from its own revenue or be restructured so that it can.
Affected groups
State-owned companies currently receiving resource grants; private firms competing against SOEs whose capital cost was subsidised by the budget.
Free Society Institute
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