The Government policy aiming to leave as much money as possible at people has been effective, Minister of State for Economic Regulation Kristóf Szatmáry said at a session of the Hungarian Association of Craftsmen’s Corporations.

Thanks to the Government measures implemented over the past years, such the relief programmes for foreign currency debtors, the cutting of utility prices or the family tax allowance, the savings of Hungarian households have increased and the subsequent upswing of domestic consumption is contributing to the expansion of Hungarian enterprises.

Kristóf Szatmáry pointed out that there was a profound change in 2010 regarding the relation between the state and enterprises. As formerly the budget of state institutions had been drafted in a way to ensure that some operating costs are covered by future fines, enterprises had felt to be the potential enemies of the state. The current Government has put an end to this practise and enacted regulation which stipulates that fines shall flow into the state budget instead of to state institutions, the Minister of State emphasised.

Speaking about the financing options of enterprises Kristóf Cséfalvay said that while following the crisis lending had almost come to a halt in Hungary, over the past years the Government has unblocked resources for enterprise financing. Thanks to this effort, enterprises have become capable of implementing several development or investment projects which they had previously been forced to shelve, he added.

Along with the importance of domestic consumption growth, the Minister of State also placed emphasis on the significance of exports as this sector is another growth engine for enterprises. The Minister of State called exports one of the most successful areas for SMEs, as their share within the total volume of exports increased parallel to the overall increase of this sector over the past four years. The network of economic diplomats, the Hungarian Investment and Trade Agency, several economic joint committees and the Carpathian Region Business Network, he added, are also contributing to the success of Hungarian exporters.

(Ministry for National Economy)