Hungary’s GDP growth rate for 2018 could reach 4.6 percent, the public debt to GDP ratio fell to 71 percent at the end of last year and the deficit was 2 percent of GDP, the prime minister said on Thursday. The government will do everything in its power to help the economy achieve 4 percent growth this year.
According to the finance minister’s briefing to the cabinet on Wednesday, household consumption grew by 6 percent last year and gross wages by an average 11 percent, Viktor Orbán told an international press conference.
The Hungarian economy is stable and is expected to stay that way this year, too, “Hungary is performing better,” Orbán said.
Hungary’s government will do everything in its power to help the economy achieve 4 percent growth this year, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said. If the government fails to enact measures aimed at promoting growth in the first quarter, the growth rate will be slightly below 4 percent, he said.
As regards employment, the prime minister said there are 4.5 million people working in Hungary today, compared with 3.7 million in 2010. If all goes well, the number of job holders could stabilise at 4.5-5 million in the long term, which is near full employment, he added.
This was why, he said, it was not worth implementing an economic policy that requires a bigger workforce. The Hungarian economy needs to grow at a pace that can be supported by a workforce of this size, he added.
Orbán said Hungary’s current employment situation was good for workers, arguing that anyone who wants to work can find a job.
featured photo by Lajos Soós/MTI