Basic Economic Facts
| GDP |
US $162.6bn (2005) |
| GDP per head |
US $16,250 (2005) |
| Annual Growth |
4.1% (2005) |
| Major Industries |
Metallurgy, construction materials, processed foods, textiles, chemicals (especially pharmaceuticals), motor vehicles, logistics, business services centres |
Major Trading
Partners |
USA, Russia |
GDP composition by Sector
Hungary is a country of 10 million people with a stable multiparty democracy and an emerging market. Hungary is now one of Europe's fastest-growing and most open economies, deeply integrated into the European economy, a relationship that was enhanced with Hungary’s accession to the European Union on May 1, 2004. The massive infusion of foreign direct investment (FDI) set Hungary on a path of high growth, falling inflation, and decreasing unemployment. It has been a leading destination for FDI in central and Eastern Europe including the former Soviet Union. Of this, a little less than one-third has come from U.S. companies.
The largest U.S. investors include GE, Alcoa, General Motors, Coca-Cola, Ford, IBM, and Pepsico. Foreign companies modernized Hungary's industrial sector and created thousands of new, high-skilled, high-paying jobs. As a result of extensive and continuing liberalization, the private sector produces about 80% of Hungary’s output. Currently, foreign firms control two-thirds of manufacturing, 90% of telecommunications, and 60% of the energy sector.
The Hungarian Central Statistical Office reported a decrease in real wages in the first five months of 2007. Gross average income rose by 7%, while net average income increased by 1%. When adjusted for inflation, this corresponded to a 7% decline compared with real wages a year before. The drop was due mainly to the 2006 austerity package; however, state measures to combat the black economy may also have had an impact on pay developments.
