BUDAPEST: Hungary's central bank said on Tuesday that it would expand its bond programme for companies, raising the amount of the programme to 1.15 trillion forints ($3.88 billion) from 750 billion forints previously and tweaking some of its conditions.

The National Bank of Hungary launched the programme in July 2019 with the aim of helping companies raise funds and expanding the liquidity of the corporate bond market. The NBH buys a part of the bonds issued by companies.

So far 46 companies have participated in the programme, raising close to 900 billion forints worth of funds, the central bank said. In the future, the NBH can buy up to 70 billion forints from bonds issued by a company, up from maximum 50 billion forints now.