The Hungarian local governments have asked PM Viktor Orban to support their request for a one-year moratorium on municipal debt repayments, MTI reported. Local authorities feel pressure, due to recent strong appreciation of the Swiss franc against the forint, considering that a major part of their debt is denominated in Swiss francs. The local governments have issued about HUF 600bn (EUR 2.2bn) bonds in 2006-2008 to co-finance EU-funded projects. Most of the bonds had 20-year maturity with a 3-year grace period, so principal payments on many of these papers will be due in 2011. Data from the central bank shows that 85% of the municipal bonds were denominated in foreign currency as at end-March 2011, while 89% of the bonds were subscribed by banks, operating on local market. The Hungarian government has not commented on the issue yet. |
Hungary's investment funds had aggregate assets of HUF 3.657tn (EUR 11.98bn) as of end-February 2013, up by 3.2% m/m, MTI news agency reported citing data from the association of investment funds ... more
The number of employees in Hungary's public and private sectors fell for the tenth straight month in January 2013 declining by 0.6% y/y to 2.574mn, the statistics office informed. The decline ... more
The assembly of state-owned Hungarian Electricity Works (MVM) has approved the purchase of the local gas business of German power utility E.ON, Hungary AM reported, citing local daily Magyar ... more