Besides the perception of the current situation among economic operators, business outlook also improved significantly.Continue reading
In the third quarter of 2023, Hungary’s GDP declined by 0.4 percent based on raw data and by 0.3 percent in seasonally and calendar adjusted and balanced data, compared with the same period of the previous year. Compared to the previous quarter, the economy’s performance grew by 0.9 percent on the basis of seasonally and calendar adjusted and balanced data, ending the recession, the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) announced on Tuesday, based on its first estimate.
Finance Minister Mihály Varga also commented on the news. In a video message posted on his Facebook page, he stressed that the end of the recession has put the Hungarian economy back on a growth path.
He pointed out that
compared with the EU, the Hungarian economy is now five percent above its pre-pandemic level, while the EU average is 3.5 percent.
“We expect the Hungarian economy to grow at a steady and high rate in the coming years,” the Finance Minister added.
The biggest contributors to the year-on-year decline in economic output were industry and market services, with the latter mainly driven by a fall in trade and scientific, technical, and administrative activities.
The decline was moderated by a good performance by agriculture.
The fall in the value added of services was partly offset by a significant increase in human health and social work activities, KSH said in its statement. In the first three quarters, gross domestic product (GDP) was 1.2 percent below the same period of the previous year, based on both raw and seasonally and calendar adjusted and balanced data.
In a statement from the Ministry of Economic Development, Economic Development Minister Márton Nagy noted that
the next big task is to restore economic growth, as inflation has already been brought down.
In the statement, the minister pointed out that despite the positive quarterly growth, the annual rate of decline is still 0.3 percent, hence the government has a serious task ahead of it to restore growth. However, the government has not been idle so far, and this is reflected in the positive quarterly data, he said.
Via MTI, Featured image: Facebook/Tetra Pak Magyarország