Transformation of the Trade and Financing Model of the Hungarian Economy After EU Accession

In the first decade of EU membership, the Hungarian economy was unable to take advantage of the economic potential of the accession. The expansion of export markets and rapidly deepening financial integration opened up new growth opportunities, but the improved access to external financing conserved the unsustainable financing model. External indebtedness of the government increased and private sector used foreign loans to finance excessive consumption instead of financing new investments, and the foreign-owned banks increased the volume of retail FX loans. Thus, when the global financial crisis hit Hungary, a further escalation of that could be prevented by the loan agreement extended by the EU and the IMF. In this period, EU transfers played an important role as they helped to prevent an economic recession. Transformation of the country’s financing model based on a new strategy started in 2010. As a result of a significant increase in domestic savings, the repayment of external loans began. As before, EU funds supported economic growth in Hungary, but now they worked in tandem with the domestic development strategy. As a result, in terms of external vulnerability indicators, Hungary not only worked off its shortfall compared to the Visegrád region but sometimes even became one of the leaders.