This is a modest figure compared with the previous months, when Hungary exported 6% to 13% more than a year earlier.
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Imports were strongest from eurozone countries, with 5.5 per cent growth.
Nonetheless, private consumption is expected to continue to drive growth this year as consumers benefit from high employment, wage hikes and low inflation, while record-low interest rates give Germans little incentive to save.
At the same time, imports rebounded in May after declining a month ago. Economists had expected a 0.1% gain.
Seasonally-adjusted exports climbed by 1.7 percent on the month while imports increased by 0.4 percent, widening the trade surplus to 22.8 billion euros, data from the Federal Statistics Office showed on Thursday.
Exports outside the European Union were up 2.3 per cent.
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That was the highest surplus since records began in January 1991, and well above forecasts of €20.3 billion in a survey of economists by The Wall Street Journal. The country’s May foreign trade surplus was Euro 505 million; meanwhile the 12-month cumulative surplus swell to Euro 7,177 billion, an unprecedented figure in statistical records.
