EC raises Hungary 2019 GDP growth forecast to 4.6 pc

The European Commission raised its projection for Hungary's GDP growth this year to 4.6 percent from 4.4 percent in a quarterly forecast released on Thursday. The government's official projection for GDP growth this year is 4.0 percent, but Finance Minister Mihaly Varga said earlier that higher-than-expected first-half growth of 5.1 percent could lift full-year growth to 4.3-4.4 percent. The EC left its forecast for next year's GDP growth unchanged at 2.8 percent. It put GDP growth in 2021 at 2.8 percent.