Hungary has a healthy economy, according to the European Commission.
István Székely, director of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, said Hungary's stable economy belongs to the "healthier half” of the EU member states.
The director made the comments during Parliament's European affairs committee meeting on Monday to discuss the EC’s 2017 report on Hungary, a country whose economic growth is primarily driven by consumption.
Public debt is in steady decline in proportion to the GDP. This tendency should be upheld, Székely said. One of the greatest challenges before the country’s economy is to attract investments but also to raise the high-added-value research and development, Székely added.
According to MTI, Székely noted a necessity to increase investment as well as private companies’ spending on research and development. He also called for incentives to significantly increase home construction.
László Balogh, deputy state secretary at the Ministry for National Economy, welcomed the report’s conclusions and said that the government would update Hungary’s convergence program on basis of the EC’s recommendations, and submit the revised document to the body in April.
Balogh noted that while 10,000 new homes were built last year, another 30,000 construction permits were issued, which is expected to double home construction in 2017.
Richárd Hörcsik, Fidesz head of the economic committee, welcomed the “balanced dialogue” between the government and the EC, which he said followed an earlier period of “talking along different lines”.