Lázár: Government prepares action plan to boost competitiveness

Budapest (MTI) – The government is preparing an action plan in the weeks ahead to boost the Hungarian economy’s competitiveness, the government office chief said on Thursday.

A recent report by the World Economic Forum showed Hungary dropping six places on the global competitiveness rankings, standing at 69th in the world and 25th in the European Union.

János Lázár told his weekly press conference that the causes of deteriorating competitiveness need to be identified.

In comparison with other countries in the Visegrad group, Hungary is in a similar position to Slovakia, but the Czechs and especially the Poles are much more competitive than the Hungarians, he said.

“There is plenty to learn from the Poles,” he added.

Lázár said it was certain that tax procedures need to be changed and state bureaucracy streamlined in order to increase competitiveness.

Meanwhile, speaking about migrants, Lázár said Hungary’s economic achievements were “fragile” because “if Hungary must bow to the will of Brussels” the “consequences in social expenses will be huge”. If forced settlement indeed happens, then it will be necessary to care for the allocated people, to give them homes, jobs, health services and social services, he added.

Hungary’s improved credit rating, the lower jobless rate and higher employment will not help if the country is subjected to a burden which is against voters’ interests, Lázár said. He added that it would be difficult to explain why Hungary should support migrants “that Germany invited in the first place”. Hungary rejects Germany’s approach of “organising migration before choosing the migrants it needs and then distributes the remainder across Europe’s poorer regions”, Lázár said.

Commenting on a meeting of the economic cabinet this week, he confirmed the decision to delay implementing a new phase of online cash registers to January 1, 2017 from end-September so that retailers have more time for technical preparations, he said.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI