Boosting trade in the east has become a key objective in Hungary’s external economic relations strategy, the deputy state secretary at the Ministry of National Economy told a Budapest conference on Thursday.
As the engines of global economic growth are have already located outside Europe and have shifted to the eastern markets, Hungary wants to strengthen positions there through setting up trading houses, intensifying ties with local suppliers as well as through third countries, Balazs Hidveghi said.
The country’s mid-term external economy strategy aims to double exports to 140 billion euros by 2020. Within that, export by SMEs should be raised to 12-15 billion euros, twice the current level, he said.
Investments by Hungarian businesses abroad and foreign direct investments in Hungary should also be doubled by the end of the decade, he said.
The strategy has been designed to serve such internal economy policy goals as stimulating economic growth and employment, Hidveghi stressed.
The state secretary noted that Hungary’s economy depended largely on foreign trade, within which the exports of goods and services account for as much as 87 percent of the country’s GDP.
