Hungary PM on growth target 2012

Attaining the 1.5% GDP growth targeted for 2012 will be "extremely difficult", Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at the London School of Economics on Thursday. The European Commission projected in its Autumn Forecast 2011-13 yesterday that the Hungarian economy will grow by a mere 0.5% next year.

Orbán said there are large downside risks to the government’s growth target for 2012 and so it will be extremely difficult to achieve, the Hungarian financial website quoted the Reuters news agency.

The government will wait to see whether Germany cuts its own GDP goal for next year or not, he added. Orbán also said in his lecture that the future of the region lies in the development of its manufacturing capacities by which it can satisfy the needs of the whole of Europe.

"We have to live with the fact that...our crisis management policy, which we believe firmly is a successful one, is a kind of combination or mixture of conservative orthodox and non-orthodox ...elements. Sometimes rating agencies and journalists don't like it, because it's simply new," Orbán said.

"I think the results of the Hungarian economy can convince the rating agencies and others to have a better opinion. To criticise rating agencies and journalists and economists is not good policy so we have to live with their opinion," the hungarian prime minister added.

(source: portfolio.hu)