The European Commission cools PM Orbán’s optimism about Hungary’s 2025 GDP growth
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The European Commission put Hungary’s GDP growth at 1.8pc for 2025 in an autumn forecast released on Friday.
“Consumption is set to be the main growth driver with exports and investment expanding more gradually due to moderate growth at trade partners,” the EC said.
“Risks to the outlook include a prolonged weakness of demand in the automotive sector and a deterioration in terms of trade, which could weigh on growth and the current account balance over the forecast horizon,” it added.
The forecast is under the assumption for 3.4pc GDP growth in the government’s 2025 budget bill.
The EC puts average annual inflation at 3.6pc in 2025. It sees the general government deficit reaching 4.6pc of GDP.
Competitiveness ‘key issue’ for 2025 EU budget, says minister
Competitiveness is a “key issue” for the 2025 European Union budget, Péter Benő Banai, a state secretary at the Finance Ministry, said ahead of a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels on Friday. Hungary, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, takes the position that additional funding in the EU budget should be ensured for financing investments that contribute to an improvement in competitiveness, Banai said.
He added that the ministers at the ECOFIN meeting were tasked with allocating funding necessary for programmes earlier cleared by the EU heads of state and government and the European Parliament, without placing too great a burden on member states. He noted that interest expenditures on the EU’s debt were “well over” the European Commission’s preliminary calculations for 2025. That missing EUR 2.3bn-2.4bn is among the biggest challenges the ministers need to resolve, he added.