IMF predicts stable growth for CEE

Brussels, May 11 (MTI) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast stable economic growth for central and eastern Europe for this year and the next in its latest regional report.

The report focusing on the economy of central, eastern and southeastern Europe will be presented in Budapest on Monday.

Assessing Hungary’s economic situation for the press in Brussels, Jorg Decressin, Deputy Director of IMF’s European Department, noted that the budget deficit had been cut to about 3 percent of GDP from relatively high levels over the past few years.

Further, there has been a good deal of monetary easing, and this trend should continue to boost the economy, he said.

This approach is totally appropriate for managing an economy which faces a challenge of competitiveness and has to cope with high external and public debts, he said.

Decressin said he was skeptical about the government’s wide-ranging sectoral interventions. But this type of macro-economic policy is not unorthodox, he added.

He stressed the need to restart lending, which he said would require a better business environment in the financial sector.

Decressin said that Hungary’s economic growth rate would decrease from last year’s over 3.5 percent to 2.5 percent in the medium term.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters