Central Bank governor talks about Hungarian euro introduction date

György Matolcsy talked about the issue in the public broadcaster Kossuth Rádió yesterday. He said Hungary would have to join the eurozone sooner or later. He added that date will not come before 2030. He highlighted Europe would be successful in the coming decade, and Hungary should not miss that.

Matolcsy said he has a good relationship with Christine Lagarde, the French president of the European Central Bank. He added he sympathises with the president’s work, portfolio.hu wrote.

He said the Americans did not like the idea of the euro in 1999. Therefore, they conducted a secret warfare against it. Therefore, one of the achievements of the common European currency is that it survived the past decades. As a result, the euro has become the second “global currency” behind the USD.

Concerning Hungary’s accession to the eurozone, he said, sooner or later, it will be inevitable. However, the Hungarian central bank believes the the euro introduction would only be favourable when Hungary’s economic development level reached 90 percent of the EU’s average. Otherwise, such a decision would be irresponsible, just like in the case of Slovakia and Greece.

Governor: fiscal balance needed

Hungary may reach that development level by 2030 or a bit later. Then it would be worth it to join the eurozone. He said, during the COVID crisis, the central bank intervened several times and could help the Hungarian economic growth significantly. Without the forint, such successes would not have been possible. He praised the work of the European Central Bank during the COVID pandemic but added Hungary needed the extra only the independent Hungarian monetary policy could provide.

He highlighted the Hungarian government had to reestablish the fiscal balance broken in the last three years. He added that Hungary should be part of every EU development and economic program in the future because Europe will advance successfully in the 2020s.