Hungarian banks have lost €302.8 million in just two months owing to a scheme to help tens of thousands of homebuyers burdened with mortgages in Swiss francs since the forint crashed, data showed yesterday.

The misjudged rush of Hungarians to take out loans in foreign currency turned into a deep national problem.

The Hungarian government launched in mid-September a controversial rescue scheme for those who had taken out foreign-denominated mortgages to obtain low interest rates before the forint crashed, leaving them now struggling with big monthly instalments.

The measure – forcing banks to accept repayments 20 per cent below market rates – has saddled the country’s lenders with losses totalling 90.6 billion forints, figures from the Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority PSZAF showed.

In October, 29,000 borrowers paid off their mortgages, worth 44 billion forints, under the government scheme.

Another 25,000 followed in November, causing a further 46-billion-forint loss for their lenders, many of which are foreign-owned.

The central bank says that Hungarians hold about 900,000 foreign-currency-denominated mortgages, 97 per cent of which are in Swiss francs, while the rest were taken out in Japanese yen and in euros.

It estimated the losses to the banking sector at 207 billion forints until the repayment scheme runs out at the end of February.

According to the PSZAF, Hungarians refinanced their loans mainly from their household savings, although seven per cent took out altogether 18 billion forints worth of loans in the local currency to finance the transaction.

Hungary’s governmemt, which has had to appeal to the International Monetary Fund and the European Union for assistance following a sharp fall in the forint, has come in for widespread criticism over its unorthodox economic policies.