Hungary’s Economy in Good Health, Says Finance Minister
- 29 Dec 2021 9:16 AM
- Hungary Matters
Hungary's economy is in better health than after the previous crisis and grew by 6.4% this year as opposed to a contraction of 6.6% the year after the 2008 crisis, Mihály Varga, the finance minister, said on Facebook.
There are now 4.7 million people in employment, 1 million more than 12 years ago, he said, adding that the jobless rate has decline from 12% in 2009 to 3.8% today.
Meanwhile, average earnings before tax have gone up from 198,000 forints (EUR 535) to 428,000, while the minimum wage is increasing to 200,000 forints on Jan 1, from 75,500 in 2009.
Personal income tax has declined from 36% to 15%, while from Jan 1. tax on employment will have decreased from 33.5% to 13%.
The government also slashed the corporate tax rate from 20% to 9%, Varga noted.
The value of investments this year came to 15,000 billion forints as against 5,500 billion in 2009, the minister noted. And whereas industrial production shrank by 17.7% in the year after the previous crisis, it grew by 11% this year, he said.
Public debt held by foreigners has halved from 60% to 30%, Varga noted, adding that the proportion of foreign currency loans held by households has gone down from 67% to 0.5%.
Government spending on debt servicing, meanwhile, has shrunk from 4.1% to 2.3%, the minister said.
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