MFB: weak private consumption holds back economic growth

Private consumption is expected to hold back the economic growth in the first part of the year in Hungary, after the consumer confidence index, decreased from February to March in an extent has not seen since the autumn of 2008 – shows the the April Periscope report of the Hungarian Development Bank (MFB).

The pessimistic public mood also occures in retail trade turnover: although the premium payments postponed to January due to the tax optimization that increased the turnover by +0.7 percent, compared to the previous month, on an annual basis only a +0.1 percent increase in sales occured, while in the first half MFB calculates with a monthly average of around 1 percent expansion – reports Világgazdaság Online.