Purchasing power development in Hungary

Hungary`s economy weakened long before the worldwide financial and economical crisis. Nevertheless, the increase of purchasing power in the past years in this country was noteable.

While Poland but also the Czech Republic and Slovakia are not so affected by the financial and economical crisis, Hungary turned from a model student to a problem student in the CEE region. With a record unemployment rate of more than 10 percent and a GDP decline of about 6,5 percent in 2009 and an expected 1,5 percent for this year, Hungary has a lot to worry about in 2010.

However, when looking at the purchasing power in Hungary one can see that it increased considerably between 2004 and 2008: The average purchasing power of one Hungarian rose by more than 40 percent! Even in the less developed regions in the north-eastern and southern parts of the country the purchasing power moved up. The average purchasing power of one Hungarian in these regions increased by more than 2 000 EUR. Even with the economical crisis the Hungarian purchasing power will continue to increase, however not so strongly as before.