Companies have a duty – – 2024-04-01 16:16:20

Competitive strategy

Written by Rainer Ackermann

“We are sticking to our goal of achieving around 90% of the EU development level by 2030.” This was announced by Economics Minister Márton Nagy, who, as promised, presented the Orbán government’s new program for more competitiveness on Monday.

For this year, the government only expects economic growth of 2-3% due to the temporarily weak export markets, but from 2025 onwards growth of 4% will be achievable again, which dynamic can be sustainably maintained in the long term. According to the minister, this forecast, like the competition strategy that has now been presented, is based on a broad base of comments that 1,200-1,300 companies have made to economic policymakers directly or through specialist associations. Nagy emphasized that there was no need for a change in economic policy, it was just a matter of fine-tuning. The return of the so-called high-pressure economy will be made possible by increasing the efficiency of companies. This should be accompanied by a consolidation of the individual market segments.

Targeting global TOP20

In order to reach 90% of the Community’s development standard by 2030, Hungary must further increase its employment rate to 85% and keep the investment rate at 30% of GDP, two thirds of which must be provided by companies. The aim of reindustrialization is to bring product exports into parity with the domestic product. Hungary wants to become one of the top 20 most competitive economies in the world by the same target date.

Strengthen patriotism

The Economics Minister admitted that investments alone are not enough; a leap in quality in productivity is also needed. Electromobility and AI, but also the ICT sector, are cornerstones of the strategy. In an age of geopolitical uncertainty, the food industry must ensure the country’s security of supply; similarly, Hungary is striving for self-sufficiency in the health industry. The green transition represents the greatest challenge for the chemical, steel and plastics industries. In addition to security of supply, sustainability and technological development, the aim is to indulge in patriotism, i.e. strengthen the positions of local suppliers or build national “champions” where multinationals are not necessary, like the OTP in the banking sector or Bonafarm in the agricultural sector.