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IMF RAISES GDP GROWTH FORECAST FOR HUNGARY

 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised its projection for Hungary’s GDP growth this year to 4.6% in its fresh World Economic Outlook. The projection was raised from 3.6% in the previous forecast released in April.

The government’s official forecast for 2019 GDP growth is 4.0% based on the spring update of Hungary’s Convergence Programme, but Finance Minister Mihály Varga said after Q2 data released at the end of August showed higher than expected growth that the full-year figure could reach 4.3-4.4%.

The IMF sees Hungary’s GDP growth slowing to 3.3% in 2020. It projects average annual inflation will pick up to 3.4% in both 2019 and 2020, climbing over the National Bank of Hungary’s 3.0% mid-term target. The projection is up from 3.2% forecast in April. It sees the unemployment rate dropping further to 3.5% in 2019 and to 3.4% in 2020. The current account deficit is set to widen to 0.9% of GDP in 2019 before narrowing to 0.6% in 2020.

The IMF noted that fiscal projections for Hungary include the IMF staff’s projections of the macroeconomic framework and of the impact of recent legislative measures, as well as fiscal policy plans announced in the 2018 budget.