K&H: The second half of the year may be easier

By: Trademagazin Date: 2023. 05. 02. 12:08

After last year’s decline, the mood of the companies slowly but surely turned upwards. The K&H large company growth index, like the K&H confidence index, started to rise, although the indicator still remains in the negative range for the time being, but companies are less pessimistic, which may mean a favorable outlook for the second half of the year. However, companies cannot sit back, as the second half of the year can also hold excitement: the shrinking of retail sales since December and the high interest rate environment may still present challenges to companies.

In addition to residential loan applications, a slowdown in lending can also be observed at the corporate level. However, K&H also played an active role in the financing of Hungarian enterprises and large companies in the past year, in the restart and development of the economy, as the financial institution’s corporate loan portfolio expanded by 29 percent in one year – compared to the 24 percent growth of the entire banking sector.

“The past three years have been a serious trial for companies, first the covid, then the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the subsequent energy crisis brought the companies’ expectations to a low point. Now, however, the mood of the business sector shows a clear improvement: in the last two quarters, the expectations of SMEs and large companies have also risen after the low point in the third quarter of last year, which can give rise to confidence and more favorable prospects for the second half of the year.”

– informed Gábor Rajna, head of K&H’s Corporate Division.