Professional Services to Strengthen Competitiveness in Hungary Gábor Horváth Head of Unit Ministry of Finance
Background of the project • Initiated by Ministry of Finance (EU TSI support)
• Competitiveness unit responsible for structural policy analysis • Encompassing view (EU National Reform Programme, Technical Support Instrument) • Outside view
• Lack of domestic research in the area • No significant reforms • There are some red flags…
Overall PMR score is good…
…but not in professional services
The PMR score for notaries is also above the median
Low share of professional services in GDP…
…despite high productivity
Low share of direct services exports…
…and a low share of value added in exports
Goals of the project • Develop policies to…
• Increase productivity in professional services (innovation, technology adoption, digitalization) • Improve competition • Increase productivity of firms using professional services • Increase the share of value added in exports • Improve access to services
Proposed approach • Going beyond PMR (not just legal environment, but also practices)
• Consultation with stakeholders • Interviews with companies (both service providers and users) • Adding new elements (territorial inequalities) • Increasing the number of professions (Croatia project as an example)
• Best practices of other countries • Ex-ante evaluation (finding the carrots)
Challenges • Inertia from service users (already used to practices) • Differing interests • Growing difference between legal possibilities and actual practices • Good ex-ante evaluation
Thank you for your attention!