The ministry said the Q1 data were supported by the healthy, sustainable path the economy is on. It said the economy would remain on the path in the coming quarters, too.

“The favourable outlooks are based in equal measure on data from industrial and construction sector order stock, the gradual improvement of business confidence and the increase in propensity to make investments,” it said. The ministry said the production sectors continued to make the biggest contribution to growth, noting big expansions in the industrial and the construction sectors.

The service sector’s contribution to growth is also on the rise. Economy Minister Mihály Varga said that the Q1 data confirm that reaching 2.5% GDP growth this year is not unachievable. Opportunities are at the disposal of the country’s economy that can make growth broader and more expansive than earlier, he added.

Analysts told MTI that Hungary’s economy could grow 2.5-3% this year. Gergely Gabler of Erste Bank said the lender’s projection for GDP growth of 2.3% in 2014 would be raised a couple of tenths of a percentage point to 2.5- 3% in light of the fresh data.

Buda-Cash Brókerház analyst Zoltán Réczey also said projections for growth in 2014 could be raised from around 2% close to 2.5% or even more on the back of the Q1 data.

Source www.hungarymatters.hu

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