Results of the autumn DUIHK survey: no rapid recovery expected

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2024/12-2025/01

Half of the respondents were negative about the outlook for the Hungarian economy over the next twelve months, and only one in ten expected a recovery. According to DUIHK President András Sávos, the chamber therefore calculates with only weak economic growth.

Weak demand, rising labour costs

The key risk for companies remains a lack of demand. Three-quarters of firms are concerned about this. Domestically private and public investment in particular is lacking, while households tend to save and consume only moderately. Foreign demand is being held back mainly by the weakness of the German economy. Just like in the spring, every second company cited labour costs as an important risk. Not without reason, as the author of the analysis, Dirk Wölfer, explained. According to the chamber’s calculations, labour costs in Hungary have grown by two-thirds since 2019, while in most EU countries with which Hungary competes the increase has been much smaller, e.g. 26% in the Czech Republic.

Better competition situation

The survey results show that 38% of companies consider their current competitive position to be better than five years ago, and only 23% said it is getting worse. So the balance is fairly positive, even if the rating was better in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe. It was an interesting finding that in many countries sustainability legislation had a positive impact on local competitiveness. //