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The Hungarian economy produced its highest-ever first four-month export performance, with a value over more than EUR 50 billion, a 12 percent increase compared to last year’s brutal record year, setting another big record.
In his speech at the opening of the Foreign Economic Conference, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó, said that the world economy had turned upside down twice in the space of a few years, leaving no actor unaffected, and forcing everything to be redesigned.
He pointed out that Hungary is not one of the largest countries, it has no significant energy resources, and its economic performance is largely determined by exports, so
one of the main tasks of Hungarian foreign policy is to continuously increase its foreign economic performance, to help Hungarian companies be present in as many markets as possible.
“From this point of view, I think that the Hungarian foreign policy and foreign economic institutional system has passed the test,” he said.
“It was a good decision to combine foreign economy and foreign policy, and this has given the Hungarian foreign policy a function that can really help to improve the performance of the Hungarian economy and the lives of the Hungarian people,” the Foreign Minister added.
Szijjártó recalled that over the last year, the economy achieved a “master triple:” employment, investment, and exports all broke records. In the context of the latter, he said that
the value of exports was 142 billion euros, which was 33rd in the global ranking, while Hungary was 95th in terms of population.
He highlighted that Hungarian export performance has doubled since 2010. He welcomed the fact that the momentum does not seem to be breaking this year, with the latest figures showing that the Hungarian economy’s export performance in the first four months of the year has never been this high, exceeding €50 billion, a 12 percent increase on last year’s record figures.
He said that they have set a target to increase the number of domestically-owned companies that are competitive in international markets by 50 percent by 2030, compared to 2018, and they are giving priority to the Key Exporters Partnership Program (KEPP).
He underlined that the missions will continue to provide all existing support to those companies that are able to enter the local market with competitive products and services, which is particularly important today, when competition has become even fiercer due to the slower than expected expansion of the world economy.
Forty-six companies have so far joined the non-financially supported Key Exporters Partnership Program, launched in 2019, six of which signed the agreement today.
The six newly joined companies represent industries that are crucial for the world economy and are seeking answers to the pressing problems of mankind, in which
domestic technology is at the global forefront: water management, agriculture, and the electric car industry, Szijjártó concluded.
Via MTI, Featured photo via Facebook/Zoltan Koncz
