The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised its prediction for Hungary's GDP growth by 0.4 percentage points, it has been revealed.
The move supports international economic institutions and analysts who acknowledge that Hungary’s pro-growth economic policy, based on tax cuts and wage hikes, has been effective.
The latest macro-economic forecast was published in the IMF World Economic Outlook. Analysts predict economic growth of 3.8 percent for this year in Hungary, 0.4 percentage points higher than previously predicted last Autumn.
The government’s estimate is even higher at 4.3 percent for 2018. In 2017, the country’s GDP grew by 4 percent, well above the prior IMF prognoses of 2.9 percent (published in May 2017) and 3.2 percent (published in October 2017).
In addition, core growth – calculated on the basis of data adjusted for working day and seasonal effects – was as high as 4.2 percent last year.
The IMF is also expecting employment trends to improve further: the unemployment rate is seen to go as low as 3.8 percent in 2018 and to 3.5 percent in 2019.