IMF mission head says Hungary needs more economic stability, better fiscal planning
Hungary needs to maintain economic stability, improve fiscal policy planning and economic governance, Christoph Rosenberg, IMF mission chief for Hungary, told the online IMF Survey magazine in an interview on Friday. “Hungary has taken some positive steps. The budget this year is very ambitious. It includes a structural fiscal adjustment that is large by any country’s standards,” said Rosenberg. [more]
New rules slow setting up new businesses in Hungary
Setting up a business in Hungary has become somewhat lengthier since January this year after new regulations require a tax registration procedure to take place before a business is issued a tax number. Previously, start-up businesses received their tax numbers automatically but as of 2012 the national tax authority NAV has been running background checks on the owners, managers and members of a new business before it is granted clearance. [more]
Sales of “investment” residential properties said rising; account for quarter of all deals
Purchases of homes for investment purposes rose significantly in Hungary between September and December last year as an increasingly negative economic outlook both in Hungary and Europe drove investors to more secure and high-yielding investments, a survey by Duna House indicates. [more]
Budapest local governments mull new taxes on residential properties
A growing number of local governments in Budapest are planning to levy new taxes to replenish their budgets as they struggle to ward off the effects of a financial crunch. Currently only five of the 23 Budapest districts are collecting so-called communal taxes, a type of property tax on residential properties. But more are planning to introduce similar taxes in the near future. [more]
Analysts, government, IMF at odds over projections for Hungary’s growth and deficit numbers in 2012
The International Monetary Fund’s growth projections for Hungary are more optimistic than market expectations, analysts told MTI on Wednesday, while a government spokesman took issue with the IMF’s forecast. [more]
Orbán says optimistic bailout negotiations will start soon; urges Hungary to join EU “fiscal Pact”
Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Tuesday expressed optimism that talks between Hungary and the International Monetary Fund/European Union on financial aid would start soon. Hungary is ready for the talks to begin, Orban told journalists after meeting the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso. [more]
Hungarian National Bank surprises market by leaving rates on hold at 7%
The National Bank of Hungary’s Monetary Council kept the bank’s base rate on hold at 7.0 percent on Tuesday. The bank did not raise the rate as widely expected. The market had expected a hike of 25-50 basis points. [more]
Tenth of home appliances used by Hungarians are from illegal imports [5]
About 10% of the Hungarian home appliance market consists of illegal imports worth an estimated Ft 25 billion annually, Napi Gazdaság reports. So-called “grey” imports mostly arrive from Poland and Germany. In these instances, appliances are purchased directly from factories that produce brands available in Hungary, and are imported without the payment of any environmental fees. [more]
Government sees EU/IMF loan deal by April but would be “surprised” if flat tax is condition of aid, Varga says [3]
Hungary could secure a new funding deal worth around 17-20 billion euros with international lenders by March or April, a top government official said on Monday as economic sentiment in the emerging European economy plunged to a two-year low.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government is struggling to repair tattered ties with the European Union so it can secure a credit lifeline from it and the International Monetary Fund and stave off potential insolvency.
HUF 4 billion spa opens as last creation of famed Hungarian architect Makovecz
Local officials of the city of Mako in south-east Hungary on Friday inaugurated a spa that was one of the last projects designed by the Kossuth Prize-winning architect Imre Makovecz before he died last September. [more]