I believe Hungary is among those countries which have been most successful in seizing this opportunity. I can say that a fully-fledged market economy has been created in a relatively short space of time and is now functioning in all its most important aspects. The process of privatisation is substantially complete. While state-owned companies were responsible for almost 90 per cent of GDP before the reforms, the ratio is now reversed.
Privatisation also extends to the energy and financial sectors.
The banks are now entirely in private hands and a large proportion of them are foreign-owned. This rapid reform was made possible by the feverish activities of government departments and the legislature in preparing the legal framework. The obstacles, which had formerly done much to impede the functioning of the economy, were successfully dismantled and liberalisation proceeded apace in both the export and financial sectors. Rigorous laws were put in place in the fields of bankruptcy, accountancy, and company regulation. The taxation system in Hungary is now based on Western models.