Hungary remained in recession in the last quarter of 2012, with the economy contracting for the fourth quarter in a row, data by the national statistics office (KSH) showed Friday. Gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 0.9 percent from the previous quarter, according to the seasonally- and calendar year-adjusted data.
This continued the trend since the beginning of the year, when GDP first contracted by 1.0 percent in January-March, compared to the fourth quarter of 2011. On a year-on-year basis, fourth quarter GDP shrank by 2.8 percent compared to October-December 2011. The office said fourth-quarter figures were mainly caused by falls in industrial production and agricultural output.
For the full year 2012, Hungary's economy contracted by 1.7 percent, the first contraction since 2009 - when the global economic crisis caused GDP to shrink by 6.8 percent - and down from 1.6-percent growth in 2011. Most analysts forecast that Hungary, which is not a eurozone member, will see little if any growth in 2013.