Keeping Hungarian economy up and running top priority, says finance minister

The top priority of economic policy in the course of the second wave of the coronavirus epidemic is to make sure the Hungarian economy stays afloat and that jobs and enterprises are protected and supported, Mihály Varga, the finance minister, told a conference on Tuesday.

Varga said the government will unveil new measures to protect the economy in the next few weeks.

Addressing the annual general meeting of the Joint Venture Association (JVSZ) on Tuesday, Varga said the economy was now more resilient to knocks and more stable than in 2008, and the policymaking of recent years combined with timely protection measures and gone a long way towards insulating the Hungarian economy from the kind of bigger shocks seen elsewhere in the European Union.

Hungary, he said, must return to growth as soon as possible, adding that this aim may be achieved next year.

The country’s operative board for protecting the economy was established with the main aim of removing obstacles to growth, and the board will continue the work it began in the summer, he said.

Varga said that

whereas the public debt would rise this year, it was start easing again next year.

Domestic investors are playing an greater role in financing the public debt, he added.

• Hungary’s headline inflation 3.9 pc in August

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Source: MTI