The Hungarian experience demonstrates the benefit of accompanying market liberalisation with governance reforms. It also shows the value of consistent reforms over a period of several years. Nonetheless, the OECD report makes clear, Hungary still falls short of best international practices. Hungary now faces challenges similar to those that confront other OECD countries, in ensuring the effective implementation of the rules and regulations that it has put in place. Competition is still lacking in most infrastructure sectors.
Regional disparities remain high.
Backlogs in the judicial system have undermined enforcement of national regulatory policies at the regional and local level. And excessively rapid decentralisation, in the early days of reform, has left a legacy of problems in relation to the allocation of powers at central and local government levels. The OECD report, which reflects the input and views of all 29 OECD Member governments and the European Commission plus contributions from the business and labour communities, makes a number of recommendations. It highlights transport as a priority area for further reform through service quality initiatives, privatisation, and competition. It also calls for more reforms in energy supply and telecommunications, to encourage the provision of modern, low-cost services, and greater transparency in public procurement.