Márton Nagy, Minister of Economic Development, said that defeating inflation and staying on track to narrow the wealth gap with other European Union countries are priority tasks this year.
The minister told a conference that Hungary had a good chance of receiving EU monies and cohesion funds by the summer. Nagy emphasized that the government was working hard to reduce inflation to below 10%, and he also noted that the country’s growth rate exceeded the EU average. He said inflation was starting to ease and the rate of the decline would pick up the pace. Annual growth is expected above the EU average at around 1.5%, he said, though this required government subsidies for businesses, with almost 1,600 billion forints (EUR 4.2bn) available this year. Nagy said sustaining the investment rate and employing 500,000 additional workers would be necessary. In 2010, Hungary’s development level was 66% of the EU average, while this year it is approaching 80%, he said. By 2030, it could reach 90%, he added.