Hungary is currently the 48th on the new competitiveness ranking of the World Economic Forum (WEF), well ahead of rank 69 the country had in 2016 and rank 60 in 2017. This improvement reflects the trend reversal in Hungary’s competitiveness, a fact which has come to be acknowledged – after market players and credit rating agencies – also by the majority of research papers.

The Davos-based WEF published the latest competitiveness ranking examining 140 countries earlier this week.

The WEF published this year’s ranking using a new evaluation model: the number of indicators applied in the study has been raised significantly and the weight of objective statistical data has also been increased. This means that this year’s results are not directly comparable to those of last year. However, Hungary’s better placement confirms that the country’s competitiveness has actually been better than it had been indicated by the rankings in preceding years.

If the impact of methodology change is omitted, although Hungary’s competitiveness improved in absolute terms the ranking would have remained unchanged. In comparison to the previous year, according to the new model Hungary’s competitiveness was better in 11 out of the altogether 12 key factors or pillars examined. Within these 12 pillars, the areas where Hungary’s performance was the best were Infrastructure (28th), Innovation capacities (39th) and Macro-economic stability (43rd). Hungary’s performance was considered better, in absolute terms, in half of the altogether 98 factors examined. This verifies the efforts of Hungary’s economic policy aiming to further improve the qualitative conditions of economic growth, such as competitiveness, while macro-economic stability is maintained. To this end, the Government has established the National Competitiveness Council, a body to propose short-term, quickly implementable pro-competitiveness measures as well as comprehensive strategies.

(Ministry of Finance)