"Another year has passed, and there are a lot of changes in the world, there is a lot of turbulence, so this Forum is an excellent opportunity to think together." - said Ottó Sinkó, co-CEO of VIDEOTON HOLDING ZRt., in his opening speech at the 4th Székesfehérvár Business Forum, who also emphasized that, despite the global difficulties, VIDEOTON is doing well: the year 2022 was successful, this year is going similarly well so far, although there are many question marks for the next period regarding the continuation, but the company group will continue to meet the challenges, as it has done so far. After that, Dávid Németh, leading analyst of K&H Bank, in his macroeconomic outlook named "The wage of fear - the price of fear" detailed these questionable factors: the reorganization due to the geopolitical situation, the expected stabilization of energy prices at a higher level, and the inflation expectations affecting the USA, the EU, and Hungary. In his analysis of the labor market, he pointed out that although the labor market in our country is still extremely tight, there are many open positions, but for new entrants, it is already problematic to get a job, which shows the structural problem of the labor market. According to his opinion, we are in a very difficult period, when the environment is very uncertain, the geopolitical and economic risk is high, and events that cannot be predestined may occur so it will be necessary to react quickly. Therefore, the political-economic decision-makers may have two bad choices: whether they allow monetary deterioration to persist at a high level, or whether they accept a smaller recession in order to suppress inflation. 

In the following panel discussion, Attila Szincsák, administrative vice president of Denso Gyártó Magyarország Kft., Zsolt Karikó, managing director of Hanon Systems Hungary Kft., István Kis, managing director of Harman Becker Kft., and for the first time this year Tibor Dávid, president of Masterplast Nyrt., and Videoton's co-CEOs Ottó Sinkó and Péter Lakatos participated. The company managers evaluated the findings of the macro analysis in terms of their own market segment: overall, compared to previous years, they judged the situation more pessimistically. Like Dávid Németh, they pointed out that the current great uncertainty and the fluctuations in the forint exchange rate that have occurred in the past period mean the biggest problem since these companies mostly produce for export. They also mostly consider a recession likely in the near future, and they also expect changes in the labor market: the current tight situation is partly managed by hiring foreign workers, but in the future robotics and automation will be even more crucial. In addition, in certain sectors, such as the construction industry, players are already noticeably adjusting their workforce to the drop in demand, so.

The two-and-a-half-hour panel discussion ended with questions from an audience of more than a hundred people, but the participants agreed that there were many open topics, which is why they will continue the discussion at the Forum, which is expected to be held next year as well.