Led by Deputy Governor Barnabás Virág, the delegation of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (the central bank of Hungary) attended the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) as the Bretton Woods Institutions are celebrating their 80th anniversary. The Annual Meetings has taken place in Washington, D.C. between October 21-26, 2024, with the participation of finance ministers and central bank governors from countries around the world. During the one-week long international forum Deputy Governor Virág has participated in the official IMF programs and he attended numerous meetings with investors and credit rating agencies, where he presented the achievements of the Hungarian economy from the recent years and reflected on the current outlook. On the sidelines of the Annual Meetings’ week the Deputy Governor gave lectures at the Yale University and at the Washington office of the Arizona State University (ASU).
The week-long event, which is traditionally held every year in autumn, brings together central bankers, ministers of finance and economic experts, as well as representatives from civil society organizations and academics to discuss the world economic outlook and other issues and challenges of global concern, including poverty reduction. The delegation of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank attending the Annual Meetings was led by Deputy Governor Barnabás Virág, who, among other things, participated in the plenary session of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) and – together with the delegation of the Hungarian Ministry of Finance – attended a meeting with the Director of the European Department, Mr. Alfred Kammer. The Deputy Governor of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank also joined several official meetings, during which the latest flagship reports of the IMF, including the World Economic Outlook (WEO), the Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR) and the Fiscal Monitor (FM), were thoroughly discussed. These publications place special emphasis on creating the requirements for sustainable economic growth.
Mr. Virág also attended the high-level meeting of the Central and Eastern European Constituency comprising Hungary, as well as Türkiye, Austria, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Kosovo. While in Washington, D.C., Mr. Virág had numerous meetings and roundtable discussion organized by prominent investors which gave the Deputy Governor a perfect opportunity to present the most recent economic achievement in Hungary and the expected growth path. He also spoke at the flagship event of the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee (RBWC), where the topic of emerging markets’ resilience was discussed. In addition, Mr. Virág also gave a lecture at the Washington campus of Arizona State University (ASU). Prior to the Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank Group, Deputy Governor Virág opened the contemporary art exhibition of the MNB Arts&Culture in New York City and had intriguing discussions with prominent professors and researchers of economics and finance from Yale University.