Hungary’s GDP up 2.2% in Q3

According to seasonally and calendar adjusted and reconciled data, the performance of the economy was up by 1.6% compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year and by 0.3% compared to the previous quarter, KSH said.

Based on seasonally and calendar adjusted but unreconciled data, the volume of GDP grew by 2% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, KSH added.

Services contributed 1.3 percentage points (pp), industry 0.2 pp and agriculture 1 pp to the 2.2%, KSH noted.

Regarding production, the value added of industry grew by 0.8%, within which manufacturing rose by 0.7% compared to the same period last year, according to KSH.

The performance of construction continued to fall, by 12% in the third-quarter, with civil engineering dropping the most, while the value added of agriculture was up by 21%, KSH data showed. The gross value added of services was up by 2.6% in total.

Under expenditures, the actual final consumption of households was up by 3.8% in the third-quarter, the volume of social transfers in kind from the government practically stagnated (at -0.1%) and that of the actual final consumption of the government shrunk by 1.6%. As a result of the above trends, actual final consumption rose by 3% overall.

Gross fixed capital formation fell by 8.8% due to the completion of developments financed from EU funds, which in turn affected the investments of budgetary units to a higher extent, according to KSH. Gross capital formation was up by 1.5% compared to 2015, while domestic use as a whole rose by 2.7%, KSH added.

In the balance of external trade, a surplus of HUF 876 billion was generated at current prices. Exports were up by 4.6% and imports by 5.3%, while under trade in goods, exports grew by 4.9% and imports by 5.6%. Within the external trade of the national economy the exports of services (including tourism) were up 3.4% and imports 3.7% higher than this time last year, KSH added.