The structure of the Hungarian economy is mostly compatible with other countries at the same level of development. Service sector accounts for slightly less than two-thirds of the GDP. Within the service sector, the private services (trade, tourism, finance and other economic services) are highly developed. Services, especially economic services, represent a sizeable portion of the country’s export. The transportation sector (with some companies owned by the state and others by private corporations) offers optimum conditions for transit traffic due to Hungary’s favourable geographical location. The state-run service sectors (health, education, public administration) failed to keep pace with the other service sectors and their fundamental transformation is therefore high on the political agenda.

The agricultural sector, for which Hungary has especially favourable climate conditions, represents approximately 3,1 % of the country’s GDP. Crop yields decrease from one year to the next, which is not sufficiently compensated by subsidies, capital supplies and investment incentives.

In line with international trends, the industrial sector accounts for around one quarter of the country’s GDP. Recently, primarily export-focused industries have been able to increase their output. These include the automotive industry, telecommunications and computer technology, while food and light industries have fallen back and the construction industry, as a result of the crisis, remains in a poor condition in 2013. The Hungarian economy compared to the other members of the European Union was more severely hit by the global crisis, and towards the end of 2010 and during 2011 the country produced a significantly slower growth than the slight improvement achieved by the other countries. The recession continued in 2012 despite the slight growth in the European Union and the World economy and the strong drive exports traditionally give to the Hungarian economy.

The volume of foreign direct investments (FDI) is over EUR 71.6 billion, which is the highest figure in the Central and Eastern European region relative to GDP and the third highest per capita figure. The vast majority of investments were funnelled into service industries and competitive processing industries (automotive, computing, electronics, manufacturing of optical products). Of all the foreign direct investments in Hungary, 76.4% originates from the European Union and 23.2% from Germany.

The Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE) is the venue for trading with shares of public companies limited by shares and registered in Hungary, securities issued by businesses, and Hungarian state and other securities. The BSE has four trading sections: equities, securities, derivatives and commodities. For more information on the BSE and BUX, its leading index, see the BSE website: http://www.bse.hu/topmenu/marketsandproducts/indices/bux.