Gov’t Spends Dearly On Communication
Ferenc Gyurcsány’s cabinet is boosting spending on public communication by 50% compared to last year. The government has announced public procurement tenders for communication drives to the tune of HUF 2 billion to be spent before the next elections in May 2006.
While Gyurcsány’s cabinet scaled down activities announced by its predecessor, it plans to spend more to communicating fewer activities in 2005. The government plans to spend HUF 1.35 billion on residential campaigns in 2005, 61% up from HUF 836.2 million spent in 2004. It will spend HUF 400 million on communication campaigns related to Hungary’s membership in the EU, an amount unchanged from 2004.
In January, however, the government started public procurement tenders for communication, spending HUF 1.725 billion on the campaigns, being led by Viktor Szigetvári, undersecretary in charge of communication to the public.
Such huge spending was made possible by the government allowing the Prime Minister’s Office to call for bids for 18 months of work in one contract, rather than two – a one-year and a half-year – contracts, hoping to achieve better economies of scale when awarding contracts bigger than earlier.
