Never before have so many central bank governors stayed in Budapest simultaneously, Matolcsy said, opening an international conference named after Sándor Lámfalussy, the Hungarian-born economist known as “the father of the euro”.

Back in 2010, the Hungarian government faced the dilemma of how to handle the crisis, by orthodox or conventional means, Matolcsy said. Hungary would have been doomed to failure if only conventional methods had been applied; successful crisis management required the combination of structural reforms, new jobs and political stability, he added.

Austrian central banker Ewald Novotny said countries of the region had successfully kept the crisis under control.

The NBH and the government are more optimistic in their assessment of the situation in Hungary than the International Monetary Fund, he said, adding that he shared the NBH’s view. A weak point for the countries of the region has been the current-account deficit which he called an important indicator of long-term stability.

Turkish central bank governor Erdem Basci said both high inflation and deflation are both detrimental to growth. A central bank can best contribute to economic growth by maintaining price stability, he said.

Source www.hungarymatters.hu

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