Hungary's economy may lose up to 4,000 billion Forints (€9.8 billion) due to soaring energy prices, according to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

During a speech at a Széchenyi Card Program economic event, the PM said that in 2023 much more will have to be spent on the same quantity and quality of energy as this year.

Orbán said that "we were right" in saying sanctions will hamper the European economy and energy sanctions will increase inflation, Hungary Today reports. He added, "We are now in an energy crisis that threatens to bring about a rapid decline in European industry as a whole."

The Prime Minister continued that if the government doesn't sufficiently protect households from high utility bills, they'll revert back to their 2010 position: "And the opportunity for the lower middle class to get ahead, which is what we have been working hard for 12 years, will disappear," he stressed.

He added that although it is debatable whether to maintain a system of subsidies from an economic viewpoint, it isn't debatable from a social viewpoint.

Furthermore, Secretary of State for Bilateral Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Tamás Menczer, talked about the sanctions in an interview with the M1 channel: "Brussels has so far adopted eight sanctions packages against Russia, and for months it was argued that these would end the war."

The Secretary of State went on to say about the energy crisis and subsequent inflation: "Brussels should not be working on new sanctions, but on lifting previous restrictions on energy carriers," he added.