“Although we cannot talk about a recession, the rate of growth of the global economy is experiencing a slowdown. The industrial performance of our most important partner, Germany, has fallen, and accordingly the government will be introducing further economy protection measures from the beginning of next year”, Minister of Finance Mihály Varga said on Friday in Budapest at a Christmas event organised by Gránit Bank.
“The banking system always facilitates the development of a well-functioning economy. The performance of Hungary’s banks is extremely favourable, and the Hungarian banking system posted 322 billion forints (EUR 971 million) in before-tax profits during the first half of this year”, the Finance Minister highlighted.
“Gránit Bank is also operating successfully and has now been profitable for 6 years in succession. By the end of this year, before-tax profits are expected to reach 1.5 billion forints (EUR 4.52 million), while its corporate loan and bond pool will exceed 180 billion forints (EUR 543 million). Parallel to this, its ratio of well-performing loans is 99.8 percent”, he explained.
Mr. Varga pointed out that in mid-2013 and in 2015 the Hungarian state had invested a total of 4.3 billion forints (EUR 13 million) in Gránit Bank, following which it realised a profit in 2017 through selling its share in the bank in an international tender.
“The new economy protection measures are necessary to maintain the dynamic growth of the Hungarian economy”, the Minister highlighted. “The Hungarian economy has been performing well for years, and its rate of growth is significantly higher than the European Union average. Hungary’s GDP increased by 5 percent in the third quarter of this year, placing it at the top of the EU rankings”, he said.
CEO of Gránit Bank Éva Hegedűs spoke about the fact that the financial institution has been continuously profitable since its founding nine years ago, with annual growth averaging at 55 percent. The bank’s balance sheet total was 373 billion forints (EUR 1.125 billion) during the first ten months of this year, following 354 billion forints (EUR 1.068 billion) for the whole of 2018.
The financial institution is a frontrunner within the field of the development and introduction of digital and electronic solutions, winning, amongst others, the award for the most innovative bank this year at Mastercard’s annual competition, the President and CEO highlighted.
(Ministry of Finance/MTI)
