Just one-fifth of Hungary’s 100 largest companies said output rose in the previous three months, while some 30% expect production to grow in the next three months.

Nearly half of the companies foresee no change in output: only 27% project a rise in domestic demand while 39% anticipate rising demand on export markets, the KSH added.

The proportion of companies saying they are planning to make investments fell from 43% in January to 40% in February, and was down 11 percentage points from December.

The confidence index for SMEs climbed from 67.8% to 73.2% month-on-month in February. Around 38% of companies expect output to grow in the next three months while 42% see demand remaining flat.

Only 28% of the companies expect rising domestic-market demand and 45% foresee stagnating foreign-market demand."

Source: Hungary Around the Clock.

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