The repayment of its 2008 loan to the International Monetary Fund and the abrogation of the excessive deficit procedure launched by the European Union upon the country’s accession to the EU mark Hungary’s economic upswing and the Government forecasts 2 per cent growth in 2014, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told lawmakers in his pre-agenda speech on Monday at the opening of the autumn session of Parliament.

Among the successes of the past few months he mentioned contracting inflation, declining unemployment as well as the allocation of higher wages for healthcare workers and teachers. Summing up the most important tasks of Parliament in the upcoming semester, he mentioned further cuts in utility prices, eliminating forex loans and helping families as matters of national importance, adding that the Government had succeeded in protecting the savings of pensioners and family benefits and keeping special taxes on multinationals and banks in place.

The Prime Minister said that although these achievements were only possible in a country with a stable government and a disciplined budgetary policy, they can mainly be attributed to the Hungarian people who made great efforts during the past few years.

(Prime Minister’s Office)