Maintaining and accelerating Hungary’s economic growth requires the speeding-up of lending, which in turn requires positive incentives, participants of a meeting by Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga and local bank managers concluded earlier today.
At the event, impediments and potential drivers of boosting lending have also been reviewed.
Mihály Varga stressed that it is an economic policy objective to reach an economic growth rate that is higher than the EU average also in the long term. The Government is counting on local financial institutions to play an active role in this process, of which today’s meeting was the first step. As the Minister emphasised, it cannot be expected that one single instrument will solve the issue: several small-scale measures are needed to accelerate lending in Hungary.
Bank representatives said that they have sufficient funding, but demand-side stimulus measures must be still found. The participants of the meeting also agreed that lending to the sectors that contribute to economic growth to the largest extent must be mainly accelerated, in a focused manner, in order to be effective in economic development. They also agreed that in addition to bolstering lending, alternative financing methods such as venture capital financing or public offerings must also be supported.
(Ministry for National Economy)
