Government: future restrictions would probably be on a smaller scale

Hungary’s full-year economic growth could be “around 7 percent” in 2021, Márton Nagy, the prime minister’s advisor on economic policy, said on public radio on Wednesday, a day after preliminary Q2 GDP data were released.

Nagy told Kossuth Radio it could be said “with a high degree of certainty” that growth would reach the 5.5 percent threshold, triggering a personal income tax rebate for families with children.

Hungary’s economy grew by an annual 17.9 percent in Q2,

the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Tuesday. Nagy said the Q2 GDP data put Hungary among “frontrunners” of economic recovery alongside Sweden, Poland and Romania.

He noted that factories that shut down in the base period were operating at full capacity in Q2, while the catering and commercial accommodations industry re-opened and consumption rebounded.

The construction, retail and service sectors were also strong,

he added.

He acknowledged the downside risk of further pandemic waves, but said

restrictions would probably be on a smaller scale,

pointing to Israel as an example where recent restrictions were laxer than earlier in spite of the marked presence of the delta variant.

Source: MTI