Budapest victory at the Economics Olympiad

The Hungarian final of the 2019-2020 V4 Economics Olympiad ended on Saturday with Emese Mezei, student of the Berzeviczy Gergely Bilingual Secondary School of Economics of the Budapest Centre of Economic Vocational Training as winner. The competition attracted secondary school students from 17 counties and the capital city.

The national final eventually organised by the Hungarian Economic Association as an online event due to the pandemic involved the top 10 contestants based on the written rounds. The top 5 will represent Hungary in the international final involving the best economics students of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary.

The competition was attended by secondary school students from every corner of Hungary, as well as from Vojvodina. The written round of the national final involved an online test due to the pandemic situation, followed by an oral round for the top 10 contestants before a professional jury consisting of Árpád Kovács, Chairman of the Fiscal Council, Lifetime Honorary President of the Hungarian Economic Association; Ákos Dombi, Associate Professor and Head of Department at ELTE, and László Trautmann, Associate Professor at BCE, President of the Development Economics Section of the HEA. Before the final the participants were greeted in a video message by Csaba Kandrács, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Hungary and Martina Bacíková, founder and international director of the competition. In a closing message Gyula Pleschinger, President of the Hungarian Economic Association announced that a motion was before the Government to award extra 30 points for students finishing in the top 3 during their application for higher education in economics.

The top 3 students of the national final of the V4 Economics Olympiad included Emese Mezei, District VII Budapest Centre of Economic Vocational Training; Flóra Nacsa, Saint Imre Cistercian Grammar School of Buda; and Dániel Szarvas, Illyés Gyula Grammar School and Vocational Institution of Budaörs.

The Hungarian Economic Association established a cooperation agreement with the Czech, Polish and Slovakian partner organisations in the spring of 2018. As part of the cooperation, the Economics Olympiad for secondary school students, initiated by the Czech INEV, took place in the academic year 2019/20 as well, with the international English language final involving the best contestants from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary based on the national finals of the participating countries. The organising partners of the Hungarian Economic Association include the MNB Department of BCE, the Money Museum, the Money Compass Foundation and the Budapest Institute of Banking. For further details visit the website at https://kozgazdasagiolimpia.hu.