In 1971, OTP Bank took over the then councils' accounts management duties, so it had been managing the finances of local governments and their legal predecessors for 53 years – it was said at a forum in Budapest, where more than 200 municipalities were represented. As a strategic partner of local authorities, the credit institution plays a serious role in the daily operation of local settlements, in lending, pre-financing and implementation of their investments.
Since joining the EU, local governments have implemented development projects worth HUF 7,000 billion. OTP Bank has provided its local government partners with additional financing of 25 HUF for every 100 HUF in support to the EU so far – self-financing, and a financing advance.
In order to strengthen strategic relationships, OTP Bank recently entered into partnership agreements with the National Association of Local Governments (2016), the Association of Cities with County Rights (2019), and the National Association of County Municipalities (2022).
Tibor Navrašeks, Minister of Public Administration and Regional Development, spoke about the new concept of regional development. He said that the cities of the future will bear responsibility not only for themselves, but also for the settlements around them. Cities of the future will not only be administrative units, but also development policy units. In the future, these settlements should not compete with each other, but rather cooperate. In the future, development policy should be more and more organized on the basis of functional urban areas in addition to the traditional administrative unit. The minister added: “We want to present an approach that is not based on the exclusivity of cities, but on the responsibility of cities in regional care.”
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OTP, investment, financial institution, support, municipality, development, bank, credit, kaposvar, economy
