In its winter forecast released on Monday, the European Commission raised its projection for Hungary’s GDP growth this year to 0.6%. The projection was raised from 0.1% in a forecast published in November.
According to MTI, the EC said Hungary’s economy contracted by 0.4% in the third quarter of 2022 as the impact of earlier fiscal stimulus faded and severe droughts hit agricultural production. Economic growth is set to pick up gradually as inflation recedes and external demand improves, it said. Real GDP growth is forecast to decrease from 4.9% last year to 0.6% in 2023, before recovering to 2.6% in 2024. The EC put Hungary’s average annual inflation at 16.4% in 2023 before recovering to 4% in 2024.