75 period, four percent in the 1976 1980 period, and one percent in the 1981 1985 period. The 1986 1990 period witnessed an average one percent per year decline in economic activity, and the decline in 1991 was three percent. In the first full year of reform in 1992, economic output plunged 11 percent.
Converting macroeconomic data to more usable figures, the average monthly wage in Hungary approximates the equivalent of US$150 per month. A food basket (one loaf of bread one pound, one package of butter one pound, one liter of milk, six ounces of ham, one chocolate bar four ounce, and four bottles of beer one liter costs the approximate equivalent of US$4.15 in Hungary.
Neither the macro nor the micro economic situation in contemporary Hungary is inviting or palatable. Inflation in 1994 is running at 22 percent and the unemployment rate is 12 percent. The GDP continues to fall in spite of all predictions to the contrary by the government and its Western economic advisers.
State owned enterprises and cooperatives continue to exist in Hungary, although the reform government, a coalition of the Hungarian Democratic Forum and the Alliance of Free Democrats, that was defeated in the election in May 1994, has offered the more profitable state owned enterprises to foreign interests at fire sale prices. New company law enacted by the reform government provides for ordinary partnerships, limited partnerships, business unions, joint companies, limited liability companies, joint stock companies, and joint ventures in the contemporary Hungarian economy. The numbers of firms by type present in the Hungarian economy at the end of 1991 are summarized in Table 1, which may be found below on this page.
Numbers of Firms by Organizational Type Hungarian Economy: December 1991
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Form of Business Number ofOrganization ...