Hungarian GDP up 2.2 percent in Q1: data

Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-15 22:03:02|Editor: huaxia

BUDAPEST, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Hungary's first-quarter GDP rose 2.2 percent year-on-year, the Central Statistics Office (KSH) said in the first reading of data on Friday.

"The gross domestic product of Hungary was up by 2.2 percent according to raw data and by 2.0 percent according to seasonally and calendar adjusted and reconciled data in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the corresponding period of the previous year," KSH said.

"The extraordinary situation resulting from the coronavirus pandemic had a negative impact on the production of most sections, but market services and, to a lesser extent, the industry continued to be the driving forces for growth in the first quarter as a whole," KSH added.

"The Hungarian economy started this year with strong growth, but the novel coronavirus pandemic fundamentally overwrote economic expectations," Hungarian Minister of Finance Mihaly Varga said, commenting on the data.

"With this performance of 2.2 percent, Hungary's performance was almost 5 percentage points higher than the average of the European Union," Varga noted.

He underlined that as a result of Hungary's economic protection measures, the recovery may follow in the second half of the year. "After a recession of 3 percent in 2020, we expect a growth of 4.8 percent for 2021," he added.

The detailed figures for the first quarter will be published on May 29. Enditem

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