The Governor of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank, who has held this position since the 4^th of March in 2025, began his first major speech by saying that he had previously worked in a building designed by Ignác Alpár and will continue to work in a building of his design as Governor as well, but in a different one, referring to his new workplace, the recently renovated headquarters on Szabadság Square.

He began his speech by outlining the state of the world economy. He pointed out that Europe is seriously lagging behind in terms of competitiveness. He said that when we look at the lack of competitiveness in the EU, it is clear that investment in infrastructure is needed, without which we cannot move forward.

The central bank’s governor said that the latest quarterly GDP shows that Hungary is heading in the right direction, with quarterly GDP growth several times higher than the EU average, which gives reason for optimism that the Hungarian economy can resume its recovery.

He said the Hungarian banking system is healthy and its lending capacity is very strong. But he underlined that there is still room for improvement. The loan-to-deposit ratio is below the regional average, which indicates that there is still room for lending.

He concluded by saying that the need to bring inflation down again as quickly as possible and achieve price stability will allow economic growth to take off. The central bank's most important task this year is to achieve and maintain price stability, which requires a consistent and disciplined monetary policy, and this is what he will strive for as central bank governor.

After the speeches in the Puskás Arena, the Macronomx Economic Year Starter 2025 conference, co-sponsored by the Money Museum, began, with politicians, economic experts and analysts interpreting the announcements, ideas and forecasts made in the morning.

Source of the image: Zsófi Szollár / Index