“According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the ratio of high-tech is highest within the Hungarian economy at 70 percent, putting it on a par with Germany and Denmark. In addition in Hungary, thanks to patriotic economy policy, the added value generated annually has increased by over a third”, State Secretary László György from the Ministry for Innovation and Technology said in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI on Sunday from Washington at the launch of the English language version of his latest book: Creating Balance.
At the event, the State Secretary stressed that the government has played and continues to play an important role in, for example, creating a balance between the world of capital and work, or between the ration of foreign and domestic ownership.
He explained that Hungary has an open economy, but this also goes hand-in-hand with vulnerability, and the goal of government policy is precisely the reduction of this vulnerability. As instruments for this, he mentioned amongst others job creation and measures aimed at promoting foreign investment. As an example of the effectiveness of the Hungarian economy, he said British start-up enterprises had been asked where they would most like to continue their activities following Brexit, and they put Hungary in first place.
Mr. György said he regards the English language version of the book as important because he would like people in English language territories to also understand what unorthodox economic policy means. “I have cited the economists they know and accept, and it is through citing their Nobel prize winners that I would like them to understand that we are essentially being attacked for something that they are themselves recommending to the politicians here. The politicians here are not implementing these, but we have done so”, he stated.
“Although in the United States they believe we are alienating ourselves, we have the world’s most open economy: if we look at the export to GDP ratio or the foreign capital to GDP ratio, we are still one of the world’s most open economies. Together with this, however, just as in the case of the U.S. economy, we also favour Hungarian businesses”, he explained.
With relation to the economic policy of the past nine years, Mr. György mentioned three measures, which together may be regarded as unorthodox: the reallocation of funding to families that live off wages and salaries and have children, inviting foreign capital to Hungary that brings with it technology and know-how and creates jobs and markets, and the creation of more favourable conditions for the small and medium-sized enterprise sector.
According to the State Secretary, there are some in the United Sates who do not agree with Hungarian economic policy for ideological reasons. As an example, he mentioned that Hungary repaid its IMF loan early and had rejected the organisation’s recommendations. While, for instance, Greece accepted and applied the IMF recipe and its GDP fell by a quarter, in Hungary, thanks precisely to its unorthodox economic policy, the added value generated annually has increased by over a third.
The State Secretary added that Hungary has taxed the companies that contributed to the 2008 global economic crisis, and who manipulated the rules of the game to enable them to extract more profit from the global economy than their performance would otherwise allow. “The profitability of the Hungarian banking system is extremely high, and although the ratio of loans is increasing, its structure is much healthier than it was prior to 2010”, he declared.
Mr. György highlighted the fact that he has held lectures and presented his book at several U.S. universities in recent days, including Berkley in California, and within the next few days is scheduled to hold a lecture in Washington and in Congress.
The State Secretary explained that the Hungarian solution is a response to a global problem, and he would like to make as many people as possible aware of it because people who are capable of flexible thinking could help their nation states profit from it.