Some Issues of the Sustainability of the Hungarian Public Finance System in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the 2022 Parliamentary Elections

Civic Review· VOL 17. Special Issue, 2021, 73–86., DOI: 10.24307/psz.2021.0006

Prof. Dr. Csaba Lentner, Professor, Head of Research Workshop, Head of Department; Széll Kálmán Public Finance Research Lab, National University of Public Service, Faculty of Law, Károli Gáspár Reformed University, (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic has also weakened the Hungarian economy's performance and fiscal balance, but the negative effects can be assumed to be temporary for the time being, due to the previously stable public finances. Hungary has implemented a successful fiscal reform and consolidation between 2010-2019, which provides a good basis for defending against the crisis. At the same time, the pandemic has put even more focus on improving the competitiveness of the Hungarian economy, containing inflation, keeping the fiscal balance within an appropriate range and increasing the scale efficiency of the small and medium-sized enterprise sector. The paper presents the framework of fiscal and central bank measures during the crisis, while also pointing to the challenges for the post-crisis period stemming from the international environment, and in particular from the changes in central bank policies.

Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes: E42, E58, E62, E66, E66, G28, H12, H60
Keywords: Epidemic Crisis, Fiscal Policy, Monetary Mechanisms, Competitiveness, National Election, Hungary's outlooks