“The Ministry for Innovation is working on the realisation of an upturn in the competitiveness of the Hungarian economy”, the Ministry for Innovation and Technology’s State Secretary for Economic Strategy and Regulation László György said on Thursday at the Budapest Stock Exchange’s Best Of 2019 award gala, year evaluation and year opener event.

In his lecture entitled Strategic Direction in Hungarian Economic Policy, the State Secretary added: “According to the World Economic Forum, the vast majority of major global risks are environmental and geopolitical effects”.

“Since 2010, the Hungarian economy has been placed on a new trajectory thanks to a budgetary, monetary and growth turnaround, and we are now working on the competitiveness upturn”, he stated.

“In the interests of achieving this, we are organising economic policy goals around three important keywords: The future is Hungarian, high-tech and green”, he said. “Accordingly, it is the Government’s priority goal for as many Hungarian-owned enterprises to be established that produce world-class god and services using modern and green technology, and while providing their employees with a secure living”, Mr. György explained.

“In the interests of this, we would for instance like to achieve 90 percent climate neutrality by 2030, meaning zero carbon dioxide emissions in electricity production”, the State Secretary continued. “The strategic vision of Hungarian economic policy is to make Hungary a clean country in cooperation with its citizens, and to preserve our water stocks”, he told reporters. “The third pillar for innovation-driven economic growth is the creation of university-centred innovation ecosystems, and accordingly we will be establishing science parks around eight Hungarian universities”, he explained. “The fourth point of the strategy is to assure our preparedness for the Industry 4.0 revolution through the development of basic digital infrastructure”, he said.

“The strategy also includes the development of transport infrastructure, the reorganisation of adult education and vocational training systems, and the exploitation of Hungarian creativity, which is outstanding in international comparison”, Mr. György told the press.

The State Secretary presented Hungarian oil company MOL Plc. with the award for sustainability and responsibly corporate management, explaining that the company is one of the economy’s outstanding players and one of the most successful Hungarian high-tech and multinational green corporations.

President of the Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE) and Deputy Government of the Hungarian National Bank Mihály Patai spoke about the fact that 2019 was an outstanding year on the stock exchange, and the BSE is one of the world’s best performing capital markets. “This year began with pathfinding on the world markets, and the U.S. indexes closed on Wednesday at a new record; this will be a complicated year”, he added.

CEO of the BSE Richárd Végh told reporters that following a low-key 2018 performance, the BUX index grew by some 18 percent in 2019 putting its five-year growth at 170 percent. The CEO said important effects are impacting the stock markets, one of which is climate change, in addition to sustainability, which has become a priority economic policy factor. The BSE has a 20-year history, and its Best Of program awards stock market participants who have performed outstandingly, and this was the first year in which awards were also presented for sustainability and responsible corporate management.

The BSE presented 22 awards based on opinion of the professional jury and the market performance of the enterprises in question, including the award for sustainability and responsibly corporate management to MOL Plc. The Growth Bond Program Issue award went to Cordia International Zrt., while the Growth Bond Program investment service provider award was presented to OTP Bank, which also won the award for the security issuer that achieved the highest volume in sales. The securities trading company with the highest 2019 volume was Wood & Co., while the awards for the BUX index trader and futures stock trader with the highest annual volumes were awarded to Erste Investment Zrt.

(MTI)