Hungary Economic Snapshot

‌31 Jan 2019: The unemployment rate has fallen to a historically low level. Labour shortages have emerged, accompanied by strong & broad-based wage increases, helping to preserve a high level of income equality, & restarting income convergence. 

Inflation is projected to continue to rise towards the central bank’s upper bound of the 3 % inflation target with a +/-1% tolerance band.

Hungary continues to successfully attract large inflows of FDI, which have expanded production capacity and boosted integration into global supply chains. Wages are rising but remain low.

The gap between GDP and net national income is relatively high, as among Hungary’s peers, due to profit remittances,

Employment is shifting towards higher-skilled jobs with the tighter integration of manufacturing into global value chains and the expansion of the service sector.

Population ageing will accelerate over the coming decades, leading to an old-age dependency ratio that is just above the EU’s. 

Health care spending as a share of GDP is relatively low and is expected to remain so in the long-run, despite a projected 10 year increase in life expectancy and the demand changes arising from population ageing.