Persistently positive real economic trends, among them export and import growth, have caused Hungary’s balance of payments account to remain positive also in the last quarter of 2017 – as the latest report by the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) shows.
The financing policy pursued in recent years has continued in the month of January 2018. Regarding financing, the State of Hungary has been increasingly relying on domestic resources and the Hungarian national currency. This policy has helped gradually improve the financing structure of public finances and reduce external exposure.
The Hungarian economy has been on a stable growth path. Following last year’s robust performance, the first data published by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) are also pointing to strong growth momentum at the beginning of the year. In the first month of 2018, the volume of industrial output increased by 6.9 percent year-on-year, while the volume of retail sales gained 7.5 percent and the value of the export of goods – in euro terms -- was up by 10 percent in the observed period. Currently available data are signalling a promising outlook for the remainder of the year.
Thanks to favourable economic trends and Government measures implemented in the past seven years, employment has hit a record high in Hungary, Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga said at a recent conference on EU employment programmes. The latest data published by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) have confirmed the Minister’s words: they show that in the period November 2017-January 2018 the unemployment rate has edged lower once again and the number of people in employment has grown in comparison to the corresponding period of the previous year.
Hungary’s retail sector has been expanding for four-and-a-half years. Rising domestic purchasing power, improving labour market conditions, soaring real wages and supportive Government measures – which, as a whole, have been boosting household finances -- are seen to be the drivers of growth.
The Hungarian economy put up a great performance in the last quarter of 2017. According to the flash report of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), unadjusted data show that in Q4 2017 the volume of Hungary’s GDP rose by 4.4 percent year-on-year, while data adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects show growth of 4.8 percent in the observed period. The pace of growth was higher than prior analyst expectations but it was in line with the figure formerly predicted by the Ministry for National Economy. The last occasion when a similar growth rate had been figured by the KSH was in Q4 2005, twelve years ago.
According to the latest report of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), the volume of construction sector output grew by 29.6 percent year-on-year in 2017. Output was higher in each construction sub sector, and the rate of growth is remarkable even from an EU perspective, despite the low base.
According to the latest data published by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), the upward trend in industrial output has continued in 2017. Last week at a board meeting of the Association of Hungarian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (MAGYOSZ), Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga said that besides the motor vehicle industry the pharma industry was a major growth engine of the Hungarian economy. Producer prices in the sector have also picked up concurrently with surging industrial sector output. In December 2017, producer prices grew by 3.9 percent year-on-year, while in the year 2017 they were up by 3.3 percent compared to the level of the previous year.
“Every Hungarian able and willing to work can have a job now,” Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga has recently said. He also spoke of a new era in employment that followed a positive trend reversal on the labour market, brought about by the Government’s pro-growth economic policy and steady economic expansion.
In the period January-November 2017, on average earnings increased markedly in Hungary. Growth has been fuelled by several factors. The wage agreement concluded in November 2016 and the strong impetus it had given to the economy coupled with pressing labour shortages caused wages to rise dynamically. In the observed period, the earnings gap between the poorest and the wealthiest counties has slightly narrowed. Experts predict that this year’s earnings growth rate will be similar to the increase seen in 2017.