"We don't need IMF money any more and my expectation is that since Hungary is targeting the same track for the future, we won't need financial help," said Finance Minister Péter Oszkó to the Financial Times in an interview. After the EUR 20 billion IMF-led standby loan became available from November 2008 in a few tranches, IMF reviewed several times the progression of the crisis management program. The program was implemented by the technocratic government of PM Gordon Bajnai, who stressed several times that the country's intention is to substitute the loan with self-financing ability. Thanks to the austerity measures and the reform since the service of the budgetary stability CDS indices improved rapidly and by the summer 2009 Hungary managed to issue the first foreign currency-denominated state bonds worth HUF 17 billion.PM Bajnai has declared at the Central and Eastern European Forum organized by Euromoney in Vienna that in order to guarantee the country's economic lin e up, Hungary must perform bigger growth than Europe. According to the experts, the growth could reach 4 pct by 2012 but that requires the next government to stick to the economic plans acknowledged by the international community.
Artisjus, the Bureau for the Protection of Authors Rights has presented a press release about music and film rights used in different environment. Among the regulations the bureau underlines new regulations endorsed by the Ministry of Education and Culture. According to the new scenario the royalty fee for a single viewing is HUF 18 (6 euro cents) and HUF 60 (22 euro cents) for downloading. Web service providers can offer free download in case the royalty fees are built in the invoice of the service. Web site operators/owners should pay HUF 2,000 (EUR 7.4) per month for a ten-song pack in case none of the songs run longer than 1 minute. Above ten songs, this fee reaches HUF 52,000 per month (EUR 192.6).
ML-BofA believes that Hungary could be the pack leader in the group of Poland, The Czech Republic and Romania to enter ERM-II exchange rate mechanism, and finally introduce the euro in 2014. The city-based financial institute has recently acknowledged the crisis management strategy of the technocratic government and added that "Most investors we meet are surprized by the scale of fiscal recovery Hungary has achieved to date". However, other analysts call the attention to the fact that the above mentioned scenario is an optimistic one and implies the premise of the decrease of the European economic and investment risks.
The Monetary Council of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank reduced the central bank base rate by 25 basis points to 6.00 pct, in effect from 26 January 2010.The Monetary Council saw scope for only a cautious reduction in interest rates, due to the uncertainty surrounding future developments in world financial markets. The Council therefore has decided to reduce the base rate by 25 basis points. Even if justified by the outlook for inflation and the economy, interest rates may only be reduced further if changes in perceptions of risks associated with the economy allow it.
E.ON Földgáz Trade, the Hungarian unit of E.ON Ruhrgas International, will sell 1.075 billion cubic meters of gas in an auction on March 4 pursuant to an agreement with the European Commission, E.ON Hungária Director of Media Relations and PR István Kutas told MTI on January 24.Mr Kutas said that 21 gas-trading companies had registered to participate in the auction. Mr Kutas noted that the company had sold 1.1 billion cubic meters of gas at a similar auction held on March 6, 2009 at a starting price of 99.3 pct of the company's average purchase price.E.ON did not reveal the hammer prices at last year's auction. Just as in 2009, the auction contracts will be for two years starting July 1. The auction winners will receive 26 pct of the gas at the Austrian-Hungarian border and 74 pct of the gas of Ukrainian-Hungarian border.
Hungarian national carrier Malév's passenger numbers rose 6 pct to 3.3 million in 2009, and growth in the first quarter of 2010 is expected to be in the double digits, Malév told MTI on January 25.Malév's market share of scheduled and charter flights in Hungary rose 2 percentage points to 43.5 pct in 2010.Malév attributed the growth to a sales strategy introduced at the beginning of 2009. Pricing under the strategy put the airline in competition with low-fare airlines flying from Budapest.Occupancy on Malév flights to destinations in Europe and the Middle East rose two percentage points to 66.5 pct in 2009, said deputy-CEO in charge of sales Karim Makhlouf.
Power producers, distributors and traders in Hungary generated pre-tax profit of HUF 176.9 billion (EUR 654.72m) in the first three quarters of 2009, 14 pct up from the same period of 2008, the Hungarian Energy Office reported. However, universal providers furnishing electricity to retail consumers and utilities, acquiring power 10 HUF cheaper than the normal trading price, sustained pre-tax losses of HUF 7.4 billion in the first three quarters of 2009, compared to pre-tax profit of HUF 1 billion in the first nine months of 2008. Power traders sold power at around HUF 25 per kW, while power producers sold them power at HUF 10, somewhat lower than the import price. Traders also posted a 81 pct yr/yr rise in pre-tax profit of HUF 56.6 billion in the first three quarters of 2009, whereas the almost wholly state-owned Hungarian Electricity Works (MVM) group produced a 51 pct increase in profit to HUF 41.8 billion.
Masterplast, one of the biggest construction material industrial producer and distributor announced its five-year strategic plan, whereby it increases frontage thermo-insulation from its current 40 pct to 48 pct within its full product range. Tibor Dávid, Masterplast's CEO said that more and more property owners realize that energy use can be decreased by 25-30 pct with efficient insulation, which is why they increase this segment. Austria's TiSUN has announced it finished the installation of 1,500 square meters of solar panels in a refurbishment of Hungary's biggest housing block. The panels will provide hot water for the building's 3,000 residents. They were installed as a part of a larger investment to improve energy efficiency of the building, supported with a EUR 4.45 million subsidy from local and EU funding.Homeowners in the building paid 27 pct of the cost. Switzerland's Phoenix Mecano is spending almost HUF 1.2 billion to expand capacity at its base in Hungary to fill growing orders for solar energy systems. The investment will create a hundred new jobs at the base in Kecskemet.
Expectations of huge industrial producers are much less pessimistic than a year ago, according to GKI's boom index of January, cleared from seasonal effects, but they still have not reached the value of the last "peace month" before the crisis, i.e. September, 2008. According to GKI's survey, supported by EU, both consumers' and businesses' trust index continued their steady growth starting in May, 2009, but the latter is still in the negative field. Within the business sector itself, industrial and construction expectations improved, while commerce deteriorated.
Real earnings fell by 2.4 pct compared to January-November 2008, paralleled by a 4.1 pct increase of the consumer price index. Within this the real earnings increased by 0.3 pct in the private sector while the fall at budgetary institutions was 8.7 pct, decisively due to the changes of the thirteen month salary payment rule. The average number of employees was 2 million 664 thousand in January-November 2009.The average gross and net earnings in corporations employing at least 5 persons and in budgetary institutions increased by 0.5 pct and 1.6 pct, respectively, compared to the same period of the previous year.
In 2009 Colliers International recorded 17 transactions across all sectors for a total of approximately EUR 569 million, said Michael Smithing, managing partner. Six of these involved income producing investment properties totaling EUR 262 million.The remainder represented owner- occupied, hotels or redevelopment use propertiesThe prime office yield is estimated at about 7.75 pct and 7.5 pct for prime retail with the yield for average A class office at about 8.5 pct. The investment market is expected to hit bottom in 2010 with prime yields stabilizing at current levels while still some softening of yields to be expected for secondary or non prime assets. Investor focus is back to fundamentals with an Increase in investment transaction volume expected to reach about EUR 400 million in 2010.
Bloomberg.com Hungary Cuts Benchmark Rate to Lowest Since 2006 on RecessionHungary's central bank cut the benchmark interest rate to the lowest level since May 2006 as policy makers balanced concerns for currency weakening with the effects of the deepest recession in 18 years. Click here to read realdeal.hu Hungarian business-consumer confidence index rises in DecemberRealdeal.hu quotes mti.econews saying that business-consumer confidence improves in January. Economic think tank GKI's combined consumer and business confidence index rose to -23.3 points in January from -25.4 points in December, returning to its level in October of last year, GKI said in the gauge supported by the European Union. Click here to read MTI-ECONEWS Hungary Issues USD 2 Billion Bond at 2.65 Pct SpreadBudapest, January 27, 2010 (MTI-ECONEWS) - The government of Hungary issued a USD 2 billion ten-year bond late Tuesday that drew much interest from investors, MTI learnt from sources close to the transaction. Click here to read
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