Household savings continued to growth, while the ratio of assets held in financial instruments has almost hit 50 percent. The gross wealth of Hungarian households has reached a level which is considered high even within the region.
Following subdued growth in the year 2016, the latest data compiled by the Hungarian central Statistical Office (KSH) show that in Q1 2017 Hungary’s GDP grew by 4.2 percent year-on-year. This has been the second largest growth rate in the past eleven years. According to seasonally and calendar-effect-adjusted and reconciled data, economic output was up by 3.8 percent compared to the corresponding period of the previous year and by 1.3 percent quarter-on-quarter.
In Q1 2017, the loan portfolio at non-financial enterprises rose by more than 4 percent year-on-year. The third phase of the Funding for Growth Scheme was closed at the end of the first quarter, with 98 percent of funds utilized. The loans provided by banks for SMEs under the Market-based Lending Scheme have continued to boost corporate lending. The value of the portfolio of household loans increased for the first time since 2010, and value of new household loan contracts has risen by some 50 percent over the past one year.
According to the latest report of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), in the period February-April 2017, the unemployment rate continued to decline and the number of people in employment increased further in Hungary.
The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Executive Director for Hungary published the Staff Report on Article IV Consultation on 10 May 2017, which followed the closing of economic policy consultations held in February-March in Budapest.
According to the latest data by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), in March 2017 the volume of industrial output increased by 13.4 percent year-on-year, while working-day adjusted data show growth of 10 percent. In Q1 2017, output was up by 7.8 percent year-on-year. Following a year of subdued growth, the sector’s performance in the first quarter presages a positive outlook for the year 2017.
Thanks to Government measures implemented in recent years, favourable public finance trends have continued. Both the general government budget deficit-to-GDP ratio and the cumulative deficit of the general government have declined steadily.
The activity of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) is a key determinant of a country’s economic progress. The incentives policy regarding available financial instruments has undergone a major change over the past one decade, since the onset of the crisis, in Hungary. Due to that, under the Funding for Growth Scheme (FGS) some 40 thousand domestic SMEs have been granted funding of some HUF 2 800bn. Shortand long-term instruments have added some 2 percentage points to economic growth and some 20 thousand new jobs in the period 2013-2016.
The net wealth of Hungarian households grew by more than HUF 18 000bn between June 2010 and the end of 2016, exceeding the country’s annual GDP. The rising value of savings ensures macro-economic stability, creates sustainable economic growth and reduces the country’s external vulnerability.
According to the latest data compiled by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), the positive trend observed in Hungary’s tourism sector over recent years has remained in place, as broad-based expansion continued. In February 2017, the number of tourism nights at accommodation establishments was up by 6.5 percent compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, totalling some 1.5 million. The number of tourism nights by foreign and domestic guests rose by 7.8 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively, year-on-year. Gross revenues of accommodation establishments, at current prices, grew by 9.9 percent compared to the same period of 2016, to HUF 23.1bn. In the last quarter of 2016, the number of tourism nights at accommodation establishments grew more in Hungary than it did in Slovakia or Poland.