Is the Hungarian economy improving?

Hungary’s economic situation is looking increasingly bright, government office chief János Lázár said at his weekly press briefing on Thursday.

Detailing a recent report by Economy Minister Mihály Varga, Lázár said: “Hungary is continuously doing better, economic growth is higher than the European Union average and we can expect significant growth over the remainder of the year as well.” He noted that the government saw GDP growth in 2017 at 4 percent. He highlighted Hungary’s low rate of unemployment, and said that at around 4 percent it was the fourth lowest in the EU, while the ratio of the employed was also above the EU average.

Lázár also touched on public debt reduction, saying that the government expects Hungary’s debt-to-GDP ratio to fall below 70 percent by 2019. He added that Hungary is now repaying those loans that

“the Socialists had taken out between 2002-2010”.

On the topic of the 12,000 forint (EUR 38) year-end premium promised to pensioners, the government office chief said pensioners should also benefit from the country’s success.

He also confirmed that the national postal service will begin preparations for delivering the end-of-year bonus of 10,000 forints in Erzsébet vouchers to pensioners at the end of the month.

Meanwhile, Lázár announced that the government has decided to open a new embassy in Oman.