GDP growth: 3.5%

GDP per head: $19,680 (PPP: $31,230)

Inflation: 0.2%

Budget Balance (% GDP): - 3.7

Population: 10.4m

Freed temporarily from the straitjacket of EU budget demands, the centre-right
government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis will focus on recovering the loss of nearly a quarter-
century of growth to the pandemic. With a huge fiscal gap and a public debt around
double the economy’s size, the fight-back will be slow. Financial support equal to nearly
18% of GDP from the EU rescue fund will help, but as living standards fall, the
government will need all the goodwill it has earned from its sound handling of the crisis.

Hungary

GDP growth: 4.8%

GDP per head: $16,600 (PPP: $34,260)

Inflation: 2.7%

Budget Balance (% GDP): - 3.9

Population: 9.6m

A weak currency and high debt levels have denied Viktor Orban’s government the
ammunition to fight the economic effects of the pandemic, though an early lockdown
limited the damage. A $6.5bn grant from the EU rescue fund will support the recovery,
offsetting a contraction in other EU aid. Mr Orban, in his third consecutive term and
backed by a strong majority, will centralise power, defying EU pressure.