State Secretary for External Economic Relations and Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó declared that Hungary is aiming to become one of the production centres of Europe so that it can be in the strongest position possible following the crisis. According to the State Secretary, this goal was served by the Government’s economic policy measures, and this is why measures have been implemented to restore budget discipline and decrease government debt.

The State Secretary pointed out that increasing employment, and so the number of taxpayers, had been a major challenge. He said that the educational system had been reorganised and both vocational training and higher education had been restructured to comply with the demands of the labour market.

With regard to bureaucratic downsizing, he emphasized that the purchasing power of real wages and pensions has increased, public utility rates and government debt have decreased and the budget deficit is being constantly kept under three percent, and these are results that only very few countries within the European Union have been able to achieve.

As he stated, economic policies must be shaped carefully in line with the surrounding economic environment, adding that it is incorrect to speak about a global economic crisis, because in Asian countries, where economic development is good, there is no crisis.

The State Secretary pointed out that nothing will be the same after the crisis and so new economic tools will be necessary to achieve success. He declared that the country had successfully overcome the challenges it faced, because government debt has decreased and competitiveness has increased while the country’s political and social stability have been maintained, as underpinned by the fact that last year foreign direct capital investment (FDI) totaled 78.5 billion euros.

(Prime Minister’s Office)