As a result of the Government’s economic policy, which places tax cuts and wage increases at the forefront, economic growth in the 3rd quarter of 2018 was even higher than the preliminary forecast at 5.2%.

This rate of economic growth is two and a half times the European Union average. Based on the figures available since 1995, never before has there been such a high level of economic growth in Hungary. The 4.9% average performance for the first three quarters of the year puts Hungary in second place in the current EU rankings.

It was mainly the better than expected performance of the service sector and industry that contributed to enabling economic growth during the third quarter to exceed the preliminary estimate by 0.2 percentage points. This indicates that the performance of the economy will not lose momentum during the remainder of the year, resulting in annual growth well in excess of 4 percent.

The latest figures also confirm that several sectors of the national economy have tangibly facilitated growth. The Home Creation Programme has played an outstanding role in realising the increased added value of the construction industry and the number of new homes being built. Thanks to the six-year tax reduction and wage increase agreement, not only do more than 4.5 million people have jobs today, but wages are also increasing dynamically, by 11.7%. This also manifests itself in the application of available income: families are able to spend increasingly more, and household consumption increased by 5.3% year-on-year. The effective use of economic development funding is indicated by a significant, 20% increase in investment. In addition, agricultural production is also increasing.

Following the turnaround in 2013, the Hungarian economy has entered a growth trajectory. As a result, overall growth in recent years may be regarded as significant in international comparison. The data indicates that Hungary’s GDP has increased by 25% compared to the early 2010 level, and is over 18% higher than in 2014. Growth is expected to continue to be around four percent in the upcoming years.

(Ministry of Finance)