Hungary only had six sustained growth cycles in the past 90 years, but the latest one stretching from 2013 to 2019 is the most impressive one, writes Central Bank governor György Matolcsy in an article on economics portal novekedes.hu.
During this time period, Hungarian GDP grew at an average annual rate of just over 3.5 percent, two percentage points faster than the average of the European Union and 0.5 percent faster than that of the Visegrád Four’s average.
Matolcsy listed ten points whicih indicate that this growth is in his opinion “exceptional”:
1. Over 800,00 jobs have been created.
2. 900,000 jobs have been preserved at a government expense of 740 billion forints (€2.23 billion).
3. One million families received support to the tune of 1,900 billion forints (€5.71 billion).
4. Dephasing of foreign currency-denominated loans lowered repayments by 1,000 billion forints (€3 billion).
5. Base rate reductions saved 2,400 billion forints (€7.22 billion) in public debt servicing.
6. Base rate reductions meant savings of 2,900 billion forints (€8.72 billion) for businesses and families.
7. Foreign direct investments brought advanced technologies to Hungary.
8. During the 2014-2020 period, Hungary will have utilized 10,000 billion forints (€30.1 billion) worth of European Union funds.
9. Central Bank loans to small and medium-sized enterprises amounted to a combined 3,800 billion forints (€11.43 billion).
10. New taxes have been introduced that are tailored for specific goals: bank tax, transaction fee, crisis taxes, electronic road tolls, online system for ATMs.
Title image: Central Bank governor György Matolcsy (MTI)
