Hungary will as of April 1 scrap an interest rate cap that has been applied to loans of small and medium businesses since Nov. 1 2022, the Economy Ministry said on Thursday, adding that a decline in inflation and borrowing costs allowed the move.

The ministry said the interest rate cap has eased the burden of about 50,000 small businesses by about 150 billion forints, by keeping their repayments lower on loans totalling about 1.5 trillion forints ($4.14 billion) in the sector. ($1 = 362.1300 forints) (Reporting by Krisztina Than)