Finance Minister: Hungary to stay out of economic cold war
Finance Minister Mihály Varga said that with the policy of economic neutrality and the government’s strong mandate, Hungary will be able to stay out of the economic cold war despite external pressure.
Speaking at an event in Zalakaros, western Hungary, the finance minister said Hungary had consciously followed the path of connectivity since 2010, which has yielded its results by now.
Thanks to the work-based and open economic model launched a decade ago, one million new jobs have been created, real wage growth has been around 60 percent since 2010, and economic growth has more than tripled, he said.
Minister Varga said these results have been possible because the government recognised in time that it was not enough for the Hungarian economy to look in one direction, other markets were also needed, and thus the policy of opening to the East was born.
It is thanks to this, among other things, that Hungary’s foreign trade doubled over one decade and three-quarters of our products are exported, Minister Varga said.
He warned that all trade data show that the West cannot exist without the East, and therefore the isolation of Europe is not only a dead end, but in reality it is not even possible.
On economic neutrality, Minister Varga said it is also an important element in Hungary’s financing as the structure of the state debt has been radically transformed since 2010. The share of Hungarian families has increased from 3 percent to over 20 percent while the share of foreigners has been reduced from 65 percent to below 40 percent, while external sources have been diversified, involving China, Japan, and also Qatar into financing the state debt.
To sum it up, Minister Varga said Hungary is of the position that cooperation, rather than the formation of blocs should be the norm, and efforts should be made to ensure that Europe also returns to this as soon as possible.