Hungary’s centre-right opposition will initiate talks with the IMF next year about a new financing package if it wins the parliamentary elections, opposition leader Viktor Orban told Reuters on Wednesday.
Main opposition Fidesz party chair Orban said the new government will focus on boosting growth and projected that euro introduction would be unlikely by 2014.
Hungary currently relies on a stand-by loan of 25.1 billion dollars received from the IMF to finance its expiring and new debts, Orban told Reuters. The governing Socialists will spend this money by next April when the parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held, he added.
“So the new government will find itself and the country in a very difficult situation … this money will (run) out, and therefore we will need a new agreement with the IMF.” Orban said.
The IMF package expires in March 2010 and Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai said on Tuesday that Hungary would probably not need to spend the entire IMF loan. Whatever is not spent from it will be used to boost reserves, Bajnai added.
Orban added that if Fidesz wins the elections it is unlikely that the euro can be introduced during that government’s four-year term.
“I cannot say it’s impossible but very unlikely,” Orban said.
Analysts currently project that Hungary can adopt the euro in 2014.
Orban said euro adoption would be “the final stabilising factor of the Hungarian financial system.”
The only way out of the crisis is to cut taxes sharply, Orban said. It is questionable why Hungary should have a budget deficit of 3.9 percent of gross domestic product this year, one of the lowest in the European Union, when the economy is in trouble, he added.
Orban said the deficit should not be higher than the EU average, which is forecast at 6 percent this year and 7.3 percent next year.
The Fidesz leader reiterated his sharp criticism of National Bank of Hungary president Andras Simor who was accused by the party last week, along with Bajnai, of tax avoidance.
“I’m not criticising the head of the National Bank on a professional basis. What I’m doing is saying that he’s not the proper person for this job,” Orban told Reuters.
“I cooperated with (Gyorgy) Suranyi who was head of the central bank when I became prime minister. We never agreed… He was even involved, in our interpretation, in the campaign of the Socialists. But regardless of that, when he realised that we won the election … he said he was ready to move and I said please remain and continue. Each situation is different, so we will see.”
It makes no never mind to down-on-its-collective-luck Hungaria when the euro gets introduced there, as even if they would introduce the ruble or the yen tomorrow, it would not do much to rescue the place.
I hate the Euro. I don’t know who’s the moron who designed it and the other moron who approved the damn thing.
Dollars are nice and green and all the same size and fit in your wallet. I have no problems with Forints either. Euros on the other hand are too small or too big, totally impossible to properly store in a normal size wallet. Who comes up with this stuff?
The Euro is completely useless, just like the EU.
What can you expect from an organization that can’t even put out decent paper money? Let’s keep the Forint or switch to the Dollar, screw the Euro.
The introduction of this new currency has only brought on FOREX trading crooks. It only serves for the purposes of the HAVES not the HAVE NOT FOLKS. If the US Dollar were to be converted today to another currency for the US it would just be an excuse to send prices rising in the US because of the supply of the new currency. The same thing will happen in Hungary when the EURO is introduced as happened in all the western European countries.
As someone who works in the American capital (Wash, DC), I can tell you with some authority, Godot: the Republic of Hungary (or whatever the heck they call the country this week) will NEVER “switch” to the United States dollar. Mark my word on that: NEVER.
BTW, you should see some of our latest banknotes, Godot. All sorts of color on them, like red. Not only green, like back in your days, apparently…
)
Meanwhile, the Hungarian forint ain’t worth shi_t to anyone. Even Hungarians don’t want to have anything to do with it in their own country — which is why, I suppose, everything is being quoted in euros there.
Yeah, the euro looks like funny money. It is butt-ugly, plus of course it is the most expensive currency in the whole world. I don’t want any of it, that’s for damn sure.
Yeah, the euro is ugly and having multiple-sized notes is just awful (unless you are blind) but really the thing has a lot of upsides as well. For one thing, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO PROOF than euro-adoption has led to higher prices overall, and I would argue that the reverse is very much true… coupled with the internet, having the same currencies across several countries makes it hard to hide from consumers in any particular country (like, oh, Hungary) that they are being overcharged. Meanwhile, the euroweenies deserve some credit for the smooth introduction of physical notes and coins back when…
Eric,
“THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO PROOF than euro-adoption has
led to higher prices overall”….
Well, I lived on and off in Spain during the
introduction of the Euro. And everything became more
expensive over night simply because all things
falling between 50 and 100 pesetas got rounded up to
1 Euro. But in terms of wages, the reverse held
true. To see the practical consequences…well,
you’re no longer expected to leave a tip!
@littlelamb: Yeah, I know about these kinds of problems. What I am talking about is something different, namely the downward pressure on prices that the euro makes possible through greater price transparency, especially at the wholesale level. It’s not as obvious as the price gouging that took place during the changeover, but it is still very real, if harder to measure. In fact, it’s almost impossible to measure, because it’s a “what if?” kind of situation: you don’t know how expensive certain products in, say, Spain would be in 2009 if they had stuck to pesetas, because they traded them in. But I do believe that overall the single currency has put downward pressure on prices, and I have absolutely no personal agenda on this.
Since SK had introduced the EUR, the Slovaks are swarming over to their poor neighbor Hungaria, because prices in their own country is suddenly unaffordable to them, due to everythign costing so much more in euros.
It is amazing simply how some folks hold out the hope of a Paradise-like Nirvana – and all it takes to get there will be adopting the euro. Well, the Americans must be a real dumb folks then, because over there, many states — particularly Massachussetts, Texas, and even California — are talking about coming out with their own state currency in addition to or in place of the federal USD.
And no, there are no talks I am aware of about “adopting” the euro in No. America, thanks to the Lord Almighty Allah.
Donizelli@ Hi my friend ! Maybe those US states just realise that the glorious Dollar is about to crash big time.
Fabian, My Friend, the USD is not about to “crash” at any time soon, mainly because it is an undervalued currency as it is. It is cheap, in other words, especially in comparison to some of the overvalued, expensive Euro-currencies.
Interesting comments such strong feelings about the a currency, or is just the coins and notes?
Anyway a few comments to a some points raised
1. Prices may rise, but if items are cheaper in other EURO Zone countries then it would be fairly easy for Hungarians to purchase goods in surrounding EURO countries if they are cheaper.
2. The bank notes are different colours and sizes so assist those with poor eyesight or blind can use them more easily, and also the complex designs and colours are to make forgery harder. BTW this was the case with almost all national currencies before the switched to the EURO. Unlike the old US dollars, but it seems the USis now using similar solutions to similar issues.
3. The main advantage of the EURO is to reduce the risk of foreign trade due to currency fluctuation, and so reduce the costs of goods. However most likely the biggest advantage for Hungary will be the reduced cost of borrowing, as high interest rates to protect the national currency would no longer be necessary.
4. There was some isolated incidences of prices increasing on EURO adoption in some countries, but such is life, if a shop increases the prices it still has to compete with other shops, and EURO allows prices to be compare with shops in other countries and to shop there more easily.
5. Slovaks shop in Hungary because the value of the forint dropped against the EURO, so shopping in Hungary became cheaper, not because prices in Slovakia went up after the EURO
GK, sorry brother, but you don’t have much of a clue about this nasty euro biz, hmmm?
I mean… you say this: “Prices may rise, but if items are cheaper in other EURO Zone countries then it would be fairly easy for Hungarians to purchase goods in surrounding EURO countries if they are cheaper.”
Let me ask you something, GK; BEFORE this crappy euro business was unleashed by the bankers, all nations in Europe had their own currencies, right? So, what had prevented people then from going from one country to the next to purchase something cheaper? When I lived in Kaiserslautern, Germany, the French drivers were coming over the border all the time to gas-up in Germania. And this was in the early 1970s.
But maybe you really expect a paradisical situation to evolve in Hungary, where retailers in one of the worlds absolutely heaviests taxed country (Hungary) will be able to “compete on price” with other nearby nations? Really? You do?
“The bank notes are different colours and sizes so assist those with poor eyesight or blind can use them more easily, and also the complex designs and colours are to make forgery harder.”
GK, good to know that not only nations but entire continents should be designing their currencies only to cater to the specific needs and pleasure of their huge BLIND AND SIGHTLESS POPULATION. Heck, until today, I did not even know that.
Con’t to GK: Also I did not know that if you have say 8 banknotes of eight different colors, one or more of these would be harder to forge. Only because it is of a different color then the rest? Wow!!
Also, your futile attempt to compare the euro notes to the US$ notes is just that: futiile. Everybody knows (well, I do) thast no US banknote was ever forcibly retired, whereas good luck using your old marks and liras and francs in Europe today, Buddy.
“The main advantage of the EURO is to reduce the risk of foreign trade due to currency fluctuation, and so reduce the costs of goods.”
On the contrary, GK, there is absolutely NO ADVANTAGE in using the euro. None. It is a multi-billion dollar mistake that the Europeans made in their attempt to mimick others, and now they have to live with it. If anything, prices have gone UP since the euro was unleashed, dig?
“However most likely the biggest advantage for Hungary will be the reduced cost of borrowing, as high interest rates to protect the national currency would no longer be necessary.”
My suggestion on that would be, NOTHING will help Hungary much, because Hungarians are completely unwilling and/or unable to help themselves, dig?
It is a country of pathetic borrowers, all that country’s economy is based on is BORROWING money from others — now and forever and ever. The little people do it in spades, and so does their central gov’t. How sad, hmmm?
Wrap-up to GK:
“There was some isolated incidences of prices increasing on EURO adoption in some countries, but such is life, if a shop increases the prices it still has to compete with other shops, and EURO allows prices to be compare with shops in other countries and to shop there more easily.”
Wow, you don’t say, don you now, GK? “Isolated incidents,” really? That’s all, huh? Man, you could be one of those gutless Eurocrats who had a part in cooking up this ultra-expensive folley in the first place, hmmm? I mean… why defend it so vehementlay against all the obvious facts, hmmm?
You and your baseless, groundless “argument” that one shop HAS TO compete with an other shop is really lame, you know. Everyone knows that in Europe in generall there is less price competition than in any other part of the world. You have been to other parts of the world recently, haven’t you, GK?
)
Donizelli you seemed to have written a great deal regarding my comments. But if you are going to quote me please make your quotes accurate.
- You wrote Also I did not know that if you have say 8 banknotes of eight different colors, one or more of these would be harder to forge. Only because it is of a different color then the rest? Wow!!
However what I actually said was The bank notes are different colours and sizes to assist those with poor eyesight or blind can use them more easily.
You also – wrote your futile attempt to compare the euro notes to the US$ notes is just that: futiile. Everybody knows (well, I do) thast no US banknote was ever forcibly retired, whereas good luck using your old marks and liras and francs in Europe today,
I said that the complex designs and colours are to make forgery harder and this was the only comparision I made to US Dollar, when I said that US are now using similar methods to prevent forgery.
You wrote that
Everybody knows (well, I do) thast no US banknote was ever forcibly retired, whereas good luck using your old marks and liras and francs in Europe today,
If you are talking about the retirement of the national currencies? Well I suppose that would be necessary to start using a common currency, but if you are talking about the actual bank notes well it seems that this government websites shows that they are http://www.moneyfactory.gov/newmoney/
BTW the banknotes are changed to “help foil counterfeiters” as I said.
Geeky GK, you blabbered as follows: “if you are going to quote me please make your quotes accurate.”
Listen, Comrade: when someone highlights text, cuts it and then pastes it someplace else, well most folks would consider that pretty accurate quoting. But hey, maybe Microsoft Corporation has got something against GK, so when I cut and pasted your crap, it got changed miraculously into something else? Oh, well.
You further blabbered as follows: “However what I actually said was The bank notes are different colours and sizes to assist those with poor eyesight or blind can use them more easily.”
So, if I read you correctly, there are no blind or poor eyesight folks in the United States of America, correct? It must be so, by GK’s amazing deductive reasoning, since the Yankee banknotes are more or less the same size and same color.
Ain’t that right, Tovarish? You further came up with this: “I said that US are now using similar methods to prevent forgery.”
By the GK’s unique logic, even though the United States dollar has preceded the euro as a currency by well over a hundred years, it is the Americans that are “adopting” (stealing??) anti-forgery methods from the crooked Euros? Wow!!! Didn’t know that either, I suppose…
Finally, you are dead wrojng for insisting that any “old” US$ banknote is ever withdrawn. They are never withdrawn, only when they are inside the Federal Reserve itself, piece by piece they get replaced. But you do not have to turn them in.
Hi Donizelli, It seems your are so obsessed with your beloved US dollars, that you are incapable to reading and comprehending what I have written before you start commenting on it. I am not attacking or criticizing your cherished currency I really have nothing against US Dollars it is just another currency for me. However you do seem to be a little bit paranoid in seeing my comments as some form of attack on you personally that needs to be defended. Please try to chill out a bit we are only discussing bank notes.
GK Alert a 12 oc’clock!!!
Hey, Buddy,you are apparently on a quick downward spiral, like an Air France Euro-Airbus, so don’t let me stop you now, huh? You said this: “Donizelli, It seems your are so obsessed with your beloved US dollars…”
MY TAKE ON THAT LATEST GK-nonsense: I don’t have a currency, beloved or otherwise, GK. Why, do you? No obession about any of it, either. Now, the county where I happen to reside and am a citizen of has a currency, indeed. It is called the balboa. Not that YOU had ever heard of it, right? Yeah…. I thought so. Pretty colorful, that balboa is, you know. Still, it is not “my” currency, mind you. I just use it, you know what I’m saying, Pardner?
“I really have nothing against US Dollars it is just another currency for me.”
Now, I am sure the world is going to be a safer place tonight, knowing that the Great GK has got NOTHING against the US greenback. Wow, what a relief that must be for President Obama and Vee-Pee Biden, Man!!!
“Please try to chill out a bit we are only discussing bank notes.”
MY TAKE: Of course we are. According to you, the blind fools designing the ugly-duckling, helter-skelter euro banknotes in the 1990s were the ones who have invented anti-forgery techniques in paper currency. Hey, listen: whatever gets you through the night, GK.
Donezelli@You are n intelligent guy,but be careful around September time !
Fabian, over here on the American continent, the month of “September” is preceeded by the month of “August,” and gets followed by the month of “October.”
Is that what you had meant, too? Goody-goody, then.
Hi Donizelli, You poor sad man, ranting and raving in to your computer. You seem so irrational and paranoid that you are incapable of a calm sensible discussion even about something as straight forward as a currency. I cannot being to imagine how you must struggle with the bigger more complex issues in life, and relationships with other people.
I generally hope you are able to get over whatever it is that is making you feel so insecure and you can sort your life out.
Good luck
Bye!
GK, and you’re still breathing, my-my, brother oh mother…
(
“You seem so irrational and paranoid that you are incapable of a calm sensible discussion even about something as straight forward as a currency.”
MY RESPONSE: But enough about me already, GK. How come that YOU know nothing about the subject matter, hmmm?
“I cannot being to imagine how you must struggle with the bigger more complex issues in life, and relationships with other people.”
MY EXPLANATION: GK, My Poor Downtrodden Loser Friend, the fact the you have got no imagination is just one of your shocking shortcomings. And as for struggles, whenever I have to read your incoherent ramblings, it is indeed sort of a struggle.
“I generally hope you are able to get over whatever it is that is making you feel so insecure and you can sort your life out.”
MY TAKE: You hope generally, as in ‘hope springs eternal’ – or at times also in absolute terms, GK? Yes, GK, aka “RealDeal.hu’s Time Waster Eggstraordinaire!”
I would also like to sort this out, GK: how can someone as illiterate as you are find the “currency” to have a computer AND an Internet access to boot!?
Let me know if you should find this out, and why wouldn’t you do this, sicne I asked you so nicely?
“Good luck”
MY EPILOGUE: It will be, once I stop hearing from you. BTW, you really have got a lot of HATE in you, Buddy. Yes indeed, Lordy, you do. Say, do you happen to reside in Hungary? That would explain to me a lot, you know…
(
Hi Donizelli, Still ranting and raving into your PC! Whatever problems you have in your life or with yourself that make you feel so insecure and behave so irrationally, I am not sure that venting your frustration with life on the internet is the best therapy for you. I believe you would be better off seeking professional help. Perhaps booking an appointment with a psychologist or if you feel embarrassed doing this perhaps you can find some help on this website. http://www.psychologyselfhelp.org/
Good luck
Yes indeed it appears that I do, GK. But hey, if you were physically closer to wehre I am now, I could just as easily stand up on a kitchen stool and urinate on top of your head. You would probably like that, wouldnl’t you, you little rascal of a Tasmanian devil, you!?