“The value of foreign trade in services developed favourably in the second quarter. On a yearly basis, surplus rose by €188 million to €2.9 billion, thanks to exports growing by 5.5 percent, while imports grew at a slower pace of 4.9 percent” explains Dániel Molnár, Senior Macroeconomic Analyst at the Macronome Institute, in a commentary on a press release of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH).

(According to the KSH flash report on the second quarter of 2024, exports of services in euro terms increased by 5.5% and imports by 4.9% year-on-year in Hungary in the period under review. Thus, exports amounted to 8.7 billion euro and imports to 5.8 billion euro.) As reported on the Macronome Blog, imports of minor services such as labour, and repair and maintenance services decreased on the import side compared to the same period last year, while transport and business services increased slightly and tourism grew significantly by 21%.  

On the export side, heavy transport and business services have increased slightly. The slower growth may be due to a decline in industrial production as a result of weak external demand, given that transport services are linked to product exports, but business services are also partly linked to industry. The growth rate towards the 10 most important destination countries was lower than the total, meaning exports became more diversified. Germany is our most important external partner in both respects.