At its meeting on 19 July 2010, the Monetary Council reviewed the latest economic and financial developments and voted to leave the central bank base rate unchanged at 5.25 pct.The Monetary Council notes with regret that the completion of the review of Hungary's existing credit line with the IMF and the EU has been postponed, as more time is needed for the Government to draw up a program which is consistent with the approved Convergence Program and the recommendations to correct the country's excessive deficit, while also leading to a lasting improvement in fiscal sustainability and is based on structural measures.
Real earnings grew by 4.0 pct compared to January-May 2009, (paralleled by a 5.8 pct increase of the consumer price index) decisively due to the change in measures concerning personal income tax and the disbursement of January and March installments of wage supplement at budgetary institutions.Within this, the real earnings increased by 3.9 pct in the private sector while the increase was 4.3 pct in the public sector. The average number of employees was 2 million 658 thousand in January-May 2010.The average gross and net earnings in corporations employing at least 5 persons and in the public sector increased by 3.4 pct and 10.0 pct, respectively, compared to the same period of the previous year.
Hungary should double the share of its gross national income generated by tourism and raise the number of workplaces in the sector to 700,000 over the next ten years, National Economy Minister György Matolcsy said in Parliament, at a conference on the future of tourism on July 16.The quantity-driven investments in the tourism industry have come to an end, now developments must focus quality, Mr Matolcsy said. An integrated program has to be planned and ties with health industry reinforced, he added.
In May 2010, industrial gross output increased by 13.7 pct compared to May 2009, the index adjusted for working days was equal to the non-adjusted one. The volume of production was 7.3 pct higher in the first five months of 2010 than in the same period of the previous year.The volume of industrial production in May - according to seasonally and working-day adjusted indices - was above the level of the previous month by 5.4 pct.
US Independent Traveler published a long article about the tourism offer of Budapest and the surroundings.The leading online magazine boasts 1 million visitors monthly, and it gives a detailed description of the attractions, gastronomy and hotels in Budapest, and also gives a few shopping tips.
The Tourism Office of Budapest, Studio Metropolitana together with the Association of Decorateurs, have announced a brainstorm-tender for artists and cultural groups, entitled "Shop windows of Budapest".Till the end of the year, different groups can arrange the shop window of the Writers' Shop on Andrássy Avenue to reflect their views of Budapest.
Israeli generic drug maker Teva inaugurated a HUF 20 billion drug packaging plant at its base on July 13, in the Hungarian city of Debrecen.The new plant will create 300 workplaces, said Teva Pharmaceutical Industries CEO Shlomo Yanai. Teva is making an investment of a similar size in Gödöllő, on the outskirts of Budapest, where it is building a sterile products plant, he added.Teva employs about 3,000 people in Hungary.
Zwack Unicum Nyrt announced on July 13, that the AGM had approved the proposal of the Board of Directors on the allocation of profits, on the basis of which the company declared the payment of dividend in the amount of HUF 2,035,000,000 from the after-tax profit, and resolved to put the remaining HUF 434, 285, 000 to the profit reserves. The AGM has ordered the Board of Directors to take the necessary steps for the payment of the dividends on a pro rata basis in accordance with the shareholding set forth in the company's share register on August 23, 2010.The distribution of the dividends shall commence on August 30, 2010. In accordance with this, the company shall pay a 100 pct dividend against the nominal value of its common and redeemable liquidation preference shares, i.e. the gross amount of the dividend for a share of with nominal value of HUF 1,000 is HUF 1,000 for the 2009/2010 financial year.
Reuters Hungary under Pressure to Agree With IMF" 'We have told our partners that further austerity packages were out of the question,' [Minister of Economy, György] Matolcsy said, adding the government wanted to meet this year's budget deficit target of 3.8 percent of GDP, but needed the planned tax on banks to do so." Click here to read portfolio.hu Hungarian Power Exchange Goes Live Today"The Hungarian organized electricity market is to hold its first auction on Tuesday. The first price reports are to be published at 10:55 CET at the earliest." Click here to read
The Rough Guide to Hungary [Paperback]By Charles Hebbert, Dan Richardson Visitors who refer to Hungary as a Balkan country risk getting a lecture on how this small, landlocked nation of just over ten million people differs from "all those Slavs". Hungary was likened by the poet Ady to a "river ferry, continually travelling between East and West, with always the sensation of not going anywhere but of being on the way back from the other bank"; and its people identify strongly with the West while at the same time displaying a fierce pride in themselves as Magyars - a race that transplanted itself from Central Asia into the heart of Europe. Click here to read