Criticism of PM’s address on the economy
March 7th, 2024The nationwide left-wing print daily carries two disparaging commentaries on the Prime Minister’s address to business leaders on the state of the economy.
In Népszava, Zsolt Papp disputes the Prime Minister’s thesis that the recession of the past two years was only due to the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine (see BudaPost, March 6). He attributes Hungary’s economic difficulties to the government’s mistaken endeavour to encourage foreign investment in industries that produce limited added value instead of investing more in education and health to lure high productivity industries.
In another Népszava article on the same day, Brigitta Szabó writes that the Prime Minister actually had nothing to say to business leaders, and instead spoke to his own followers, treating them to a monologue of clichés, like suggesting that one should rather be a creditor than a debtor. Meanwhile, she writes, Hungary’s sovereign debt has risen from 22 to 50 thousand billion Forints over the past 14 years.