Hungary Warns of Dramatic Hit From Drought, Nuclear Outage

(Bloomberg) -- Hungary is facing a “dramatic” economic impact given the drought across its agricultural heartland, combined with what may turn out to be a lengthy nuclear production outage, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said.

The weather-related damage in 2026 will probably exceed 500 billion forint ($1.6 billion) including an earlier frost, more than the amount seen in the previous drought-hit year of 2022, he told reporters on Friday.

In an additional hit to the economy, it may take at least a month to restore the Paks nuclear plant to full capacity if low water levels in the Danube persist into the fall, he said. 

While a slight rise in the river and a drop in peak temperatures have led the government to cease calls for voluntary consumption curbs for now, the longer-term outlook remains challenging, Magyar said.

“The Hungarian economy can’t function without Paks for months on end,” he said. “We need to find a solution.”

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