Márton Nagy, the economic development minister, said the Hungarian economy has the foundations in place for continued economic growth.
Over the last ten “fortunate years”, Hungary was able to build a healthy economy, which is the basis of its successful economic policy in today’s times of crisis, Nagy told the Századvég Institute’s Sovereignty conference in Budapest on Monday. Hungary’s economic strategy is sound and only needs some fine-tuning, he said, warning that the country must not stray from its current path which, he said, was the key to its economic sovereignty. He attributed the strength of the Hungarian economy to the country’s political stability, its family and labour-based society, its high investment rate coupled with a stable and diverse inflow of FDI, its strong export and complex export structure, developed road network, self-financing and an innovative financial system. All of this provides a stable foundation for continued economic growth, Nagy said, adding that capacities needed to be increased further in light of the challenges faced by the global and the Hungarian economy. He said a demographic turnaround was the key to maintaining growth, explaining that the labour market needed to mobilise its internal reserves or, if necessary, bring in guest workers. The economy’s energy supply needs to be increased 1.5-fold and made greener, the minister said, adding that transport and storage also called for developments. The digital transition should also be speeded up, and public debt needs to be kept on a downward path, he said.