P.M. BRIEFING : Hungary Plans Market Economy
More than half of Hungary’s predominantly state-owned economy will be in private hands in three to four years, Prime Minister Jozsef Antall said today.
The former communist country plans to replace its 45-year-old centrally planned system with a market economy, a move that has attracted much investor interest from the West, notably the United States.
As much as 90% of Hungary’s production still comes from state-owned enterprises. The government now hopes that 60% of the economy will be private within five years.
Antall told an investment-promotion conference that the key elements of his center-right coalition’s economic policy are liberalization, privatization and getting rid of bureaucracy.
“We can expect the annual influx of $1 billion to $2 billion worth of foreign direct capital in the years to come,” Antall said.
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