Hungary has climbed nine places on the World Economic Forum (WEF) global competitiveness index ranking, it has been revealed.
Hungary is now ranked in 60th place, a position it last held in 2014, Mihály Varga, minister for National Economy, announced.
Hungary's progress is not only reflective in economic statistics and positive feedback from international investors, institutions and credit rating agencies but also into surveys conducted among company managers, the minister said.
Minister Varga stressed the scale of improvement was spectacular compared to the progress achieved during the past decade, and this was the largest year-on-year leap forward on the ranking, one of the most prestigious worldwide, he said.
Achievements have confirmed that the choice of the National Competitiveness Council, which was established last spring, concerning economic fields and reform proposals believed to be capable of substantially boosting the country’s competitiveness also in the short term, had been right.
The Minister said Hungary’s performance improved in eight out of the twelve examined fields. The largest improvement was registered in the pillar “Financial market development”, in which the country has advanced 25 places.
Within the pillars of “Innovation” and “Technological readiness” the results showed that perceptions have improved, the country gained 18 places and 14 places, respectively.
"It signals that the government’s programs aiming to boost R&D&I and develop supplier networks are bearing fruits. Substantial payroll tax cuts have also been instrumental in the country’s advancement of 9 places in the category “Labour market efficiency”," Minister Varga pointed out.
The minister said that since 2010, the number of people in employment has increased by more than 700,000, the government budget deficit has been reduced and the debt-to-GDP ratio has also been falling.