Hungary Q2 GDP growth revised up to 4.8 pc

Hungary’s economy grew by an annual 4.8 percent in the second quarter of 2018, up from 4.4 percent in the previous quarter, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Wednesday. Its second Q2 reading was revised up from a preliminary 4.6 percent.

KSH attributed the upward revision to better than expected performance of market-based services, which contributed the most to growth.

Adjusted for seasonal and calendar year effects, the pace of economic growth quickened to 4.6 percent, up from 4.4 percent in the first reading.

Quarter on quarter, GDP rose by an adjusted 1 percent, slowing from 1.2 percent in Q1 but up from 0.9 percent in the first reading.

Growth in the first half of the year was revised up by 0.1 percentage point to an unadjusted 4.6 percent and an adjusted 4.7 percent.

Commenting on the data, Finance Minister Mihály Varga told public television that growth expected in industrial output, consumption, employment and the investment sector made economic expansion sustainable on the long run. Furthermore, expansion is unhampered by indebtedness, he said. A ten percent rise in real wages in the first half of the year supports a wide variety of services, Varga added.

The second reading of the GDP forecast, 4.6 percent, surpasses significantly the EU average, which is at 2.2 percent, he said.

ING Bank chief analyst Péter Virovácz said growth was more balanced than in the first quarter of the year as industry and construction contributed a combined 1.7 percentage point to the headline figure. He projected a full-year GDP growth of 4.3 percent.

K and H Bank chief analyst Dávid Németh said the fresh data show the pace of growth is slowing from previous quarters. He put full-year growth at 4.2-4.3 percent and next year’s at 3.3 percent.

Takarékbank analyst Gergely Suppán said growth could continue at the same pace for the rest of the year, bringing annual growth to 4.6 percent. Next year, growth could slow to 4.1 percent, he added.

Source: MTI