Economy of Hungary city competitiveness ranking by EIU, Budapest is ranked above Tel Aviv, Lisbon, Moscow and Johannesburg, among others. Hungary maintains its own currency, the Hungarian forint (HUF), although the economy fulfills the Maastricht criteria with the exception of public debt, but the ratio of public debt to GDP is significantly below the EU average at 75.3% in 2015. The Hungarian National Bank—founded in 1924, after the dissolution of Austro-Hungarian Empire—is currently focusing on price stability with an inflation target of 3%. In the age of feudalism the key economic factor was land. The new economic and social orders created private ownership
Hungary and the euro the euro as its official currency in 2007 or 2008. Later 1 January 2010 became the target date, but that date was abandoned because of an excessively high budget deficit, inflation, and public debt. For years, Hungary could not meet any of the Maastricht criteria. After the 2006 election, Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány introduced austerity measures, causing protests in late 2006 and an economic slowdown in 2007 and 2008. However, in 2007, the deficit had been reduced to less than 5% (from 9.2%) and approached the 3% threshold in 2008. In 2008 analysts claimed that Hungary could join ERM II