Hungary is emerging from the crisis and the economy is growing, albeit slowly, Minister of National Economy Mihály Varga stated on Friday at an Expo in Komló.

The Minister said that Hungary is no longer one of the countries endangered by bankruptcy, and noted that the European Union's excessive deficit procedure, which Hungary had been under for nine years, has become a thing of the past.

"In the past three years, Hungary has truly stood on its own two feet and, from this point of view, 2013 could turn out to be the year it makes a breakthrough," Mr. Varga pointed out, noting that the volume of investments in the second quarter of this year had grown by 4.6% compared to the same period a year before. Regarding foreign currency loans, the Minister expressed his hope that a solution would be found to help the hundreds of thousands of borrowers experiencing difficulties. Mr. Varga also emphasised the importance of increasing employment, stating that there are 207,000 more people working today than three years ago, mainly due to governmental support for SMEs.

Speaking about debtor relief schemes for local governments, the Minister cited the city of Komló as an example. As he emphasised, three years ago this Baranya county city had had debts of more than 3 billion forints, of which the Government assumed HUF 1.6bn so that more money could be spent on healthcare, education and, among others, on the creation of jobs. In the opinion of the Minister, the task of stimulating employment is even more important than cutting debt. “The Government can come up with the best ideas, but if people do not feel they are getting ahead with regard to jobs, their standard of living or opportunities, then even the best schemes are doomed to fail,” he stressed.

Accordingly, he added, the Government must do more to create jobs and make people perceive that the economy has a promising future.  Currently, 207 thousand more people are in employment compared to three years ago, and this increase is not mainly the result of public work schemes, but of Government efforts aimed at supporting enterprises which have been capable of creating jobs even at a time of most severe crisis, he said.
Mihály Varga expressed hope that in the EU fiscal period of 2014-2020 companies and private individuals which have until now lacked courage to submit a tender or have kept shelving their plans will also have access to funding.

(Ministry for National Economy)