“The evaluation by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also confirms that Hungary is one of the European Union’s most dynamically developing member states”, the Finance Ministry’s State Secretary for Financial Policy, Gábor Gion said in assessment of the OECD’s latest report analysing economic prospects.

“The document highlights the favourable effects of the Hungarian Government’s economic policy: the dynamic increase in wages being realised thanks to the six-year wage agreement and the housing subsidies that are both significantly improving domestic demand”, the State Secretary told reporters.

“The OECD is predicting 3.9 percent growth for 2019, which approaches the Government’s estimate. Hungary’s expected growth significantly exceeds the average of both the OECD member states and the European Union”, Mr. Gion pointed out, explaining that a combination of significantly increasing earnings, the rapid expansion of employment and strong consumer confidence indicate that consumption will continue to rise.

The report states that Hungary’s dynamic economic growth remains on stable foundations in view of the fact that the budget deficit has remained well below 3 percent of GDP. “The OECD publication also states that Hungarian sovereign debt is continuing to decrease, and according to its expectations, which are in line with those of the government, could fall below 70 percent of the gross domestic product this year”, the State Secretary highlighted.

“The OECD decided on its prognosis for this year before knowing the outstanding figures for first quarter growth. The exceptionally high 5.3 percent growth recorded in the first quarter is particularly remarkable in view of the fact that according to the OECD the global economy is slowing significantly, and the rate of growth of the eurozone is expected to especially experience a slowdown compared to 2018”, he underlined.

The document points out that internal demand will continue to be the engine of economic growth, with falling unemployment, increasing real wages and an expected increase in investment all facilitating further consumption. Unemployment is expected to continue to decrease according to the OECD report, and could fall to around 3.2 percent in 2020.

“In the publication, the organisation’s experts also draw attention to the fact that the productivity of the Hungarian economy must be improved further to assure the long-term sustainability of the current level of growth”, the State Secretary underlined.

(MTI)