I’m long past the point of really caring what Hungarian Economy Minister György Matolcsy says, since most of what comes out of his mouth is so silly and/or dangerously delusional. Still, since he’s the country’s lead minister on matters economic, one should at least take the time to put his rants into perspective.
Case in point his assertion yesterday that it is possible to double Hungary’s GDP over the next 15-20 years with annual growth of 5%-6%.
To which I would respond by saying that if Hungary’s perpetually state-heavy economy was capable of growing 5%-6% a year for 20 years, it would have done so at least once in the last 30.
As the above chart drawn from World Bank data which shows GDP growth from the years 1975-2010 indicates, the last time annual growth came in above just 5% was in 1977.
Which, by coincidence, is when Matolcsy’s Wikipedia page says he graduated from the Faculty of the Karl Marx University of Economics of Industry.
