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Hungary’s industrial sector struggling, no sign of improvement, recession may come again
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Output of Hungary’s industrial sector fell 9.5pc in August, a first reading of data released by the Central Statistics Office (KSH) on Friday shows.
Adjusted for the number of workdays — of which there were two fewer than in the base period — output was down 4.1pc. KSH said output of most branches of manufacturing had declined in August, although output of three had increased, with the chemicals segment showing the biggest growth.
In a month-on-month comparison, output slipped 0.5pc, on a seasonally- and workday-adjusted basis. For the period January-August, industrial output declined 3.8pc year-on-year. KSH will release detailed data on output of industrial sector branches on October 15.
Commenting on the data, the National Economy Ministry said the economy as a whole was expanding, even though some sectors were performing well and others poorly. Hungary is in eleventh place among European Union member states in terms of GDP growth, and its economy is expanding at around 50pc over the EU average, it added.
It said the electricity, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and food segments
had grown in August and pointed to the impact of the weak performance of the German economy on the headline decline. According to 444.hu, Hungary may slide back into recession because of the low domestic consumption, the struggling industry and the underperforming agriculture.
Hungarians have cheapest, safest energy supply in Europe, says official
Thanks to the government’s utility price caps policy, Hungarians continued to pay the lowest prices in Europe for natural gas and electricity in September 2024, Szilárd Námeth, government commissioner in charge of the public utility cuts scheme, said on Facebook on Friday.
Reading this why would any Hungarian want to live in Sweden when they can live the good life in Hungary? Those poor Swedes! Of course, household gas prices have been subsidized in Hungary while in Sweden they apply carbon taxes to encourage decreased fossil fuel use as a response to global warming. Nothing comes for free and Hungarians have paid for that government subsidy through higher taxes on other things while businesses pay higher prices for gas which feeds into the prices of the goods they sell to those subsidized household owners. Is a household gas subsidy for a base amount of annual consumpiton good government policy? For lower income Hungarians it is.