What can we expect from the Hungarian economy in 2015?

Hungarian daily Világgazdaság organised an economic conference, titled ‘2015: restructuring markets, new owners’, where experts discussed the state of play and the challenges of 2015 in Hungary. The conference started with Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga’s keynote speech. He told that in the first nine months of 2014 we produced a 3.6-percent economic growth, and opined that the growth is stable and Hungary is competitive not only in the region, but at world level too. He added that thanks to the new system of online cash registers retail turnover can be planned much more easily. Another important step was the launch of the Electronic Freight Goods Tracking System (EKÁER). The next speaker was György Surányi, who talked about the monetary and fiscal policy of the last two decades. He told that the single personal income tax rate, family tax benefits and the corporate income tax didn’t produce the expected results. This is why new taxes had to be introduced, to fill the holes in the budget with a VAT increase, the transaction tax and the advertisement tax. Former ministers of economy and finance Péter Ákos Bod, István Csillag and Mihály Kupa took the floor next, analysing the chances of the Hungarian economy in 2015. Mr Bod said: while the economies of Hungary’s neighbours managed to perform at the level they had done before the recession or they did even better by 2014, Hungary failed to do so. Mr Kupa expressed his worries that it can’t be seen what new resources will contribute to the budget this year so that proposed state investment projects can be financed. Mr Csillag told that in his view Hungary’s performance in 2014 was actually better than the country was destined to regarding its capabilities. Péter Lakatos, vice president of the Confederation of Hungarian Employers and Industrialists (MGYOSZ) spoke about international competitiveness. He thinks Hungary will be competitive if people are taught, from kindergarten to university, that they must compete and learn that competition is actually a good thing. He reckons that from the four factors measuring how well a market works – institutional system, infrastructure, efficiency, innovation – we are doing alright in the first two categories. Gábor Harsányi, the managing director of GoodWill Consulting Kft. shared important information about EU tenders. He told that the tendering procedure was simplified and made faster, everything can be done online and decisions are made in just two months. Bálint Szécsényi, the CEO of Equilor Investment Zrt. and vice president of the Budapest Stock Exchange analysed the year ahead of the capital market. He believes that 2015 will be the year of change: Hungary’s rating will be upgraded and this will give a major boost to the economy. János Zelenák, development director of Secfone Kft. gave a presentation on the protection of confidential business information. In his view the biggest problem is that many people still don’t believe others want to steal information from them. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced that Hungarian export to the USA grew by 24.5 percent in the first ten months of 2014. It is in Hungary’s interest to sign the free trade agreement between the EU and the USA. He also stressed the importance of Eastern markets and a good relationship between the EU and Russia. The minister told that Hungary will open 17 new trading houses abroad. In the panel discussion that followed AAM Consulting CEO Gábor Kornai, Csaba Metál Zrt. CEO Béla Majoros and Masterplast managing director Balázs Ács discussed their firms’ market opportunities. The last speaker of the conference was Gabriella Erdős, senior partner in TaxMind Kft., who shed light on the new taxation regulation of 2015