Central bank president: Orbán is wrong, government has no plans for the future

Hungarian National Bank György Matolcsy hungarian government
Photo: facebook.com/jegybank

Economic policymaking already “took a wrong turn” in 2021, before the war in Ukraine and sanctions of 2022. This was said by György Matolcsy, the head of Hungary’s central bank (Magyar Nemzeti Bank, MNB) told MPs on Wednesday. The central bank president gave another gvernment-critical speech in parliament.

The president of the central bank had some sharp words towards the government

The MBH governor, presenting the bank’s report on 2021 in parliament, said Hungary was at risk of letting down future generations, who may justifiably ask why policymaking “went astray”. Matolcsy said that unlike in the previous 10 years, this time the government has no targets for the next 10 years. He added that Viktor Orbán is wrong when saying that performance should not be measured, hvg.hu reports.

The mistakes of the government

The central bank president also voiced many sharp words of criticism towards Viktor Orbán’s government. Portfolio reports that Matolcsy also spoke about:

  • The mistakes of the 2010s have now caught up with Hungary.
  • Food price caps have made matters worse, adding 3-4 percentage points to inflation. The productivity of the food industry is the second lowest in the EU.
  • One of the biggest mistakes, apart from the price caps, was the government’s letting the budget go.
  • The failure to reform education, higher education, the health industry and services is very painful, as these could have been part of a qualitative turnaround.
  • Hungary has been been left behind by Portugal and Poland, Romania is very close to us and Croatia is going to skyrocket soon, so the question has to be asked: why are we in the bottom five in the EU?

Matolcsy, who had already criticised the government’s economic policy, concluded his speech by saying that he was not offended, frustrated or at odds with the prime minister. He said, however, that there was a difference of principle between the central bank and the government.

Source: MTI, hvg.hu, Portfolio.hu

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