Contrary to the government’s argument, stopping the import of Gazprom’s products would not slow down GDP growth, research company GKI reports.
Other countries in the region were able to become partially or completely independent of Russian energy in such a way that their economic growth was higher than that of Hungary.
Average GDP growth in Hungary fell from 3.9% in the years 2013-21 before Russia invaded Ukraine, to 1.3% in 2021-24.
The corresponding figures were 4.6% and 2.7% in Poland, 3.0% and 1.5% in Slovakia, and 2.6% and 1.5% in the Czech Republic. Thus, the Czechs and Poles, who become completely independent from Russian gas after 2022, and the Slovaks, who reached partial independence, were able to obtain higher GDP growth than Hungary in 2022-24.
After the outbreak of the war the Hungarian economy slowed down significantly more than those of the other Visegrad Four countries, HVG observes.