Hungary
Hungary’s Opus in talks to sell coal-fuelled power plant Matrai Eromu
Matrai Eromu has incurred losses due to rising carbon prices, and its future is in danger as a result of tighter rules on carbon-powered plants in the EU.
Hungarian government acknowledges delay at Paks nuclear power plant
Budapest seeks to delay repayment of Russian loan for nuclear power plant expansion as new units now not expected to be up and running before 2030.
Hungary’s central bank governor sees no signs of overheating
Hungary’s economy extended gains in Q3 as domestic growth has decoupled from weak European and German industrial performance.
Budapest inaugurates monumental Puskas Arena
Hungarian PM Viktor Orban's obsession with football is legendary, and critics say spending on sports infrastructure is draining money away from the health sector and education.
Hungary delays pension bond issue due to success of MAP+
The finance ministry and the state debt manager, AKK, did not want to launch a new bond issue against a successful bond programme already in place.
IIF: 2020 the climate super-year
The growing importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance to investors (and ultimately to voters) is one of the most important forces shaping the new global economy. CO2 emissions must peak next year or we are in trouble.
30 YEARS OF TRANSITION: CEE makes enormous progress but held back by governance issues
If half of the governance gap between Central Europe and the G7 countries was closed, income convergence would be brought forward by almost a generation, says EBRD chief economist Beata Javorcik in an interview with bne IntelliNews.
30 YEARS OF TRANSITION: The East-West convergence in numbers
30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall the new EU members haven’t yet caught up with Western Europe — but they are drawing level with the Southern European states that were battered by the international economic crisis.
CEE monthly bond wrap: Bond issues in Eastern Europe pick up strongly in October, but activity subdued in Central Europe
Bond issuers from Eastern Europe were active in October with 18 bonds issued worth a total of $4.5bn of which two-thirds of the value and 14 out of the 18 were Russian bonds, according to data provided by CBonds.
30 YEARS OF TRANSITION: Gabor Szeles, a self-made Hungarian success story
Szeles, now Hungary’s seventh richest man, started out importing PC parts in the 1980s. He made his name after the transition by reviving Videoton, now the largest electronic manufacturing services company in the CEE region.
30 YEARS OF TRANSITION: A profound crisis of trust in democracy
Report from the Open Society Foundations reveals a “robust spirit of dissent, and a readiness to challenge those in power” as shown by mass anti-corruption protests in the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia.
30 YEARS OF TRANSITION: Central European automakers prepare for an electric future
Since the first years of the transition period, Central Europe started to emerge as a major manufacturing destination for Europe’s automotive industry. Now the industry is adapting to a new generation of technologies.
EBRD: Pace of emerging Europe economic growth slows as global outlook weakens
The pace of growth in the EBRD’s emerging economies is slowing on the back of a weaker global economic outlook, and pressure from slower growth in the Eurozone and China, US/Chinese trade tensions and a contraction in world automobile production, acc
Huawei building Hungary's 5G network
Budapest defies pressure from the US to exclude the Chinese tech giant, sending a clear message to global political and economic actors.
Central Europe shrugs off Western Europe’s slowdown
Western Europe is rapidly sliding into recession, but after a five-year-long boom, Central Europe is holding out.
Hungary drops plans for politically influenced administrative courts
Budapest will scrap plans to set up a separate system of public administration courts, which had been in the crossfire of international organisations.
Czech PPF Group sold quarter of its stake in Hungarian Telenor
PPF Group of the richest Czech Petr Kellner sold a 25% stake in the Hungarian radio communications company Telenor, which includes Telenor Hungary and Telenor Real Estate, to Antenna Hungaria.
Warm relations between Budapest and Moscow confirmed at Putin's latest Hungary visit
Hungarian PM Viktor Orban defended his country's close ties with Russia and talked of Hungary’s position in a regional context “in the triangle between Moscow, Berlin and Istanbul” — with no mention of Brussels.
Slowdown on the cards for Central Europe as economic sentiment plunges
The European Commission’s Economic Sentiment Indicators (ESIs) turned south across Central Europe in October, suggesting the economies of the region will slow down from here as a miasma descends.
IIF: IMF meetings, not as bad as you think
Investors and policymakers finished the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank annual general meetings in October on a more positive note than expected.