Hungary
- 2015 half-year gain: 30.7%
Hungary took a bet on "Orbanomics" and it's paying off. The country's prime minister, Viktor Orban, drew much criticism for his unusual tax proposals (including an Internet tax, which was later dropped) and economic reforms. Critics said it would create an economic disaster.
But Orban might be having the last laugh. After years of shrinking or tepid growth, Hungary had a faster growing economy in 2014 than almost every other EU economy.
The momentum is helping Hungary's stock market too. It is rallying 30% this year, second only to Argentina.
One Orbanomics policy included canceling some Hungarian mortgage debt that was denominated in Swiss francs -- and owed to Swiss banks. The Swiss weren't thrilled with the idea. But given the fast rise of the franc earlier this year, the policy arguably saved Hungarians some financial pain.
And consumer sentiment has gone up recently in Hungary, perhaps from the relatively new debt relief.
