Post: Hungarian Central Bank chief criticizes government’s economic policy

View of the Széchenyi Chain Bridge and the eastern part of the city of Pest in Budapest. archive photo

Hungarian Central Bank Governor Matolci said the country is on the brink of a crisis.

BUDAPEST, 5 December – RIA Novosti. György Matolci, Governor of the Hungarian Central Bank declarationNoting that the country is on the brink of a crisis, he predicted the highest inflation in the EU to be 15-18% next year and called on the government to change its economic policy.

“We have to accept that the Hungarian economy is on the brink of a crisis. We have to accept that our financial and macroeconomic indicators are in the first or second to last place in the EU. Next year will be the worst because the expected inflation will be 15-18%, the highest in the EU,” he said. The video of his speech was broadcast by the RTL channel.

According to him, Hungary “if it maintains its current economic policy, if it does not make a two-thirds turn in economic policy, it will lose this decade, followed by recession and stagflation.” “The situation may change right now, but not next year,” Matolchi said. said.

The head of the Hungarian National Bank noted that “80% of Hungarian inflation is due to the boom in energy prices that started in the second half of 2021”.

But at the same time, Matolci described former Polish President Yaroslav Kaczynski’s statement about the collapse of the Hungarian economy as “vulgar, inconsiderate and inappropriate”. “The Hungarian economy is not collapsing at all. We are in trouble in many ways, we are troubled by the lack of our own solutions, but the whole of Europe is in trouble,” Matolci said.

He said Hungary ranks second to last after Bulgaria in food processing efficiency among EU countries, and fourth from last in overall economic efficiency.

“The government’s preparation for the crisis in the last six months… was wrong, it needs to be changed. We went on the field by winning everything so far, we thought that we would automatically win both the explosion in energy prices and inflation. No, it cannot be won with the old methods, nor can it be returned to socialism. It turns out that the ceiling price and so on. “Ideas didn’t work under socialism, the system collapsed,” he said.

Referring to the successful social reforms of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s previous governments since 2010, Matolchi said, “The Hungarian National Bank wants and demands that the Hungarian government return to the path of rebalancing and ‘win’ the decade again.”

In November 2021, the Hungarian government froze gasoline and diesel prices for three months from November 15 and set them at 480 HUF ($1.3). The government later expanded this measure. Since 27 May, only cars with Hungarian license plates have been allowed to refuel at a reduced price, leading to discrimination accusations by the European Commission. From 30 July, only private cars, agricultural machinery and taxis with Hungarian license plates are allowed to refuel at a discounted price. In September, the government extended the measure once again until 31 December.

Source: Ria

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