Hungarian Global Competitiveness Index

Global competitiveness index of Hungary based on World Economic Forum global competitiveness report.

The Swiss-based World Economic Forum – WEF has been producing its Global Competitiveness Report since 1990, in which all countries in the world are evaluated and ranked in economic, technical and societal terms, according to the same framework. Among the other reports with similar content (IMD, Doing Business, Economic Freedom, etc.), the WEF report is by far the most comprehensive in all respects. It contains more than 150 indicators, which adequately weighted show the world competitiveness rankings. The Global Competitiveness Index is well-known in all countries across the globe, and used at the highest level.The report is published once a year, last year 138 countries were analysed. WEF prepares the a substantial part of the survey by involving local research institutes. In Hungary, Kopint-Tárki Institute for Economic Research (and its predecessor) has been participating in the preparation of the domestic survey for over 15 years. Out of 140 nations Hungary is ranked 63th on the list of Global Competitiveness Report 2015-2016 published by World Economic Forum.

Details

Client: World Economic Forum

Project leader: Péter Vakhal

Duration: 1998-

Documents:

2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015

	2023 Fact	2025 Forecast	2025 Forecast
GDP	-0.9%	2.5%	3.2%
Gross Fixed Capital Formation	-7.4%	2.7%	4.5%
Industrial Production	-5.5%	1.7%	5.3%
Gross Salaries	14.2%	13.5%	8.0%
Unemployment Rate*	4.1%	4.3%	3.7%
Current+Capital Account**	1.2%	1.9%	1.9%
General Government**	-6.7%	-5.5%	-5.0 %
Consumer Price Index*	17.6%	4.3%	3.5%
MNB Base Rate***	10.75%	5.5%	5.0%
10-Year Yield***	5.86%	6.0%	5.5%

*annual average **in % of GDP ***at year-end

05.03.2024. GDP: improving consumption and investments, contraction of inventories in the fourth quarter

The second estimate confirms that the unadjusted GDP stagnated on an annual basis in the fourth quarter of 2023 while the seasonally and calendar-adjusted GDP volume was up 0.5%. Compared to the previous quarter, the GDP stagnated as well, which is barely below the EU-average growth rate of 0.1%. In 2023 as a whole, the GDP contracted by 0.9%.
On the expenditure side, the stagnation was primarily due to the drastic contraction in inventories, which had a negative contribution of more than 3 percentage points to GDP growth. Private consumption expanded by 1% (even though private consumption expenditures continued to decrease), while the decline in fixed capital formation moderated to merely 3% in the last quarter. Overall final domestic use was down 4.1%. The positive growth contribution of net export could offset the downward effect of shrinking domestic demand, but this positive growth contribution was only due to the digit freefall in merchandise imports which surpassed the fourth-quarter decline in merchandise export. On the production side, similarly to the previous quarters, only agriculture posted positive growth in Q4.
In light of the data on the fourth quarter, industry poses the main downside risk to economic growth in 2024 on the production side, while primarily net export may undermine the growth outlook on the expenditure side.

14.02.2024. GDP: stagnation in the fourth quarter

According to the first estimate, the Hungarian GDP stagnated on an annual basis in the fourth quarter of 2023. (The seasonally and calendar-adjusted growth rate was 0.4%.) Compared to the previous quarter, the GDP stagnated as well, an unwelcome negative turn after the positive growth recorded in the third quarter. As a result, the GDP contracted by 0.9% in 2023, a negative rate exceeding even the more pessimistic forecasts.
Agriculture remained the only economic industry achieving positive growth. Industry and construction declined at an accelerating rate and output continued to decrease in the majority of market services sectors as well.

01.12.2023. GDP: decelerating consumption decline, continuing steep fall in investments

According to the second estimate, the unadjusted GDP was down 0.4% on an annual basis in the third quarter, while the seasonally and calendar-adjusted volume decreased by 0.3%. Compared to the previous quarter, the GDP increased by 0.9%, following three quarters of decline and a one-quarter-long stagnation.
On the production side, the continuing moderate decrease in industry and a markedly milder decrease in construction was accompanied by a further dramatic acceleration in the agricultural growth rate (to about 88%. On the other hand, the rate of fall in the services sector slightly accelerated, instead of flattening out, mostly due to the steeper drop in transport and the professional, scientific, administrative and support services. According to the CSO, the output of the health sector continues to grow at a steep pace.
On the expenditure side, the fall in private consumption decelerated further (to -0.9%), while the negative contribution of the change in inventories moderated spectacularly. On the other hand, the year-on-year pace of decline in fixed capital accumulation still exceeds 15%. On balance, the pace of decrease in final domestic use moderated considerably. At the same time, net export continued to make a massive contribution to economic growth, due to the simultaneous steep decline in the export of goods (by about 5%) and the freefall in the import of goods (by about 10%).