Gergely Gulyás, Head of the Prime Minister's Office, said Hungary has been “the first to overcome the coronavirus pandemic” enabling its economy to recover earlier than in other countries.
Speaking with regional newspaper Észak-Magyarország, Gulyás welcomed as a first sign of recovery that industrial output had grown by 16.5 percent in March, and noted that the finance ministry expected a GDP growth of 4-5 percent for the full year. He added that he was hoping for an even higher figure in 2021 and a ratio over 5 percent next year.
On another note, Gulyás welcomed that the European Union had made arrangements for coronavirus vaccine purchases, but added that “those vaccines would not have been enough to ensure the inoculation of 55 percent of Hungarian adults with at least one shot by now”. He said it had been “ill-advised to make a political out of the provenance of the vaccines”. “Hungary did not make that mistake and Hungarians will regain their accustomed lifestyle earlier,” he insisted.