Statistical Office Reports Huge Foreign Trade Deficit

The value of exports in EUR terms was 18% and that of imports 29% larger in November 2022 than in the same period of the previous year. The balance of the Hungary’s external trade in goods deteriorated by EUR 1.2 billion, according to data published by the country’s Central Statistical Office this Monday.

Compared to the previous month, the level of export in goods increased by 5.0% and that of import in goods by 7.3%, the report adds.

In November 2022:
The value of exports amounted to EUR 13,132 million (HUF 5,364 billion) and that of imports to EUR 14,415 million (HUF 5,900 billion).
The deficit of the external trade in goods was EUR 1.3 billion (HUF 536 billion).
The share of EU Member States (EU27_2020) was 78% in exports and 63% in imports.

In November 2022 compared to a year earlier:
The value of exports increased by 18% and that of imports by 29% in EUR terms.

As experts at the financial website portfolio.hu note, “we only saw a deficit of nearly EUR 1.3 billion twice, both figures for this year: the foreign trade deficit was EUR 1.6 billion in August and EUR 1.3 billion in July (a hair's breadth higher than in November). With this, the accumulated deficit since the beginning of the year exceeded EUR 8 billion. Of course, there has never been even close to such a large deficit in Hungary since the regime change, and since the December number will not bring any change, the total figure for 2022 will represent a huge negative record.”

They add that the high deficit in November coincides with the industrial production statistics also published today, which also do not show a positive picture of the economic situation. It is expected that the Hungarian economy may have shrunk in the fourth quarter as well (even to a significantly greater extent than in the third), and this marked the beginning of the recession.