http://www.realdeal.hu/ en Copyright 2010 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:12:33 +0100 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss How's this for embarrassing: last week Hungarian tax authority APEH was forced to release a special communiqué admitting that it had included leading brewer Dreher Sörgyárak Zrt on a public list of corporate deadbeats by mistake. ]]> http://www.realdeal.hu/20100208/drunken-tax-authority-mistakenly-puts-leading-brewer-on-deadbeat-list http://www.realdeal.hu/20100208/drunken-tax-authority-mistakenly-puts-leading-brewer-on-deadbeat-list observer tax/red tape apeh Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:12:33 +0100 The ongoing uproar over forced auctions of residential properties owned by indebted homeowners continued last week, this time with a twist that seems to be equal parts chilling and goofy. According to tabloid Bors, the Budapest Gas Works (Budapesti Gázművek) has threatened to have an apartment belonging to a man named Sándor Horváth (left) auctioned off to cover the debts of a different man named Sándor Horváth.]]> http://www.realdeal.hu/20100208/forced-auction-outrage-mounts-as-utility-targets-wrong-indebted-homeowner http://www.realdeal.hu/20100208/forced-auction-outrage-mounts-as-utility-targets-wrong-indebted-homeowner observer people property tax/red tape consumer protection gas Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:43:03 +0100 A court put Ernő Mesterházy, senior adviser to mayor Gábor Demszky, and former PR head of the Budapest public transport company (BKV) Tibor Zelenák in custody on Friday. Former deputy CEO of BKV Miklós Regőczi was placed under house arrest. Regőczi is suspected of misuse of funds and Zelenák as acting as an accomplice to misuse of funds. Mesterházy is suspected of persuading BKV senior executives to sign unjustified and unnecessary contracts. Also being held is former IT director of BKV Zsolt Fuzik, who was captured by commando units on Wednesday evening after two months on the run. Mesterházy was employed by Demszky as political senior adviser according to a contract signed on July 17, 2009. A copy of the contract was obtained by Kossuth Rádió on Friday. Demszky will hold a press briefing with CEO of BKV István Kocsis on matters related to the company on Monday. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100208/budapest-mayor-demszkys-senior-adviser-in-custody http://www.realdeal.hu/20100208/budapest-mayor-demszkys-senior-adviser-in-custody people auth_hatc bkv budapest government corruption erno mesterhazy gabor demszky istvan kocsis miklos regoczi politics tibor zelenak zsolt fuzik Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:29:58 +0100 OTP Bank sold the offered minimum volumes of both of its two-year and its ten-year indexed bonds in their second offering between Wednesday February 3 and February 5, the bank said on Friday. The bonds are available to legal entities and businesses, and Groupama Garancia, Groupama's Hungarian unit will enjoy preference at subscription. OTP sold HUF 27m of the OTPX2011C bonds, maturing on December 20, 2011, bringing the total issued of the bonds to HUF 527m. It sold HUF HUF 48m of OTPX2019B bonds, due on October 14, 2019, bringing the total amount issued to HUF 548m. The bank said it accepted all subscription. The interest of the bonds is pegged to various BNP Paribas indices. The OTPX2011C bonds were offered at 98.71pc of nominal value, and the OTPX2019B bonds at a gross price of 95.16pc between Wednesday and Friday. This time OTP Bank did not offer a third, five-year bond, having a similar interest structure, and offered parallel with the other two bonds in their first offering in the middle of last December. It sold HUF 4.6bn against a miinimum offer of HUF 3bn of these OTPX2014C bonds, due on December 19, 2014. The first subscription of the bonds coincided with Groupama Garancia's offering of three new asset funds, of two-, five- and ten-year terms, to investors between November 2 and December 11. Groupama group is OTP Bank's largest shareholder with a stake of 9.16pc of the end of September 2009. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100208/minimum-offer-sold-of-otp-indexed-bonds http://www.realdeal.hu/20100208/minimum-offer-sold-of-otp-indexed-bonds macro auth_econews banking industry bnp paribas groupama garancia otp bank Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:28:06 +0100 Hungarian oil and gas company will focus on investments at its Croatian unit INA and a consolidation of existing upstream and downstream projects this year, CEO Zsolt Hernadi said in an interview with Reuters on Friday. MOL and the Croatian government will have to find a solution to boost capital in INA by March 31, Mr Hernadi told Reuters. "There are some possible options under evaluation, like a direct capital increase, a convertible bond or selling a fixed asset as an alternative. This latter one seems, so far, the least probable option but there is no formal decision yet," he said. MOL owns 47pc of INA. The Croatian state holds 44pc. Mr Hernadi also said MOL would be able to finance planned investments and refinery upgrades at INA from existing loan stock and cash flow. He excluded any strategic cooperation with Russia's Surgutneftegaz, which bought a 21pc stake in MOL from Austria's OMV in a move which MOL's management saw as hostile. "As we do not see clearly the fate of this package (Surgut's intentions) I cannot see possibility for talks about strategic cooperation between Surgut and MOL," Mr Hernadi told Reuters. "This is the stance of MOL's board and the stakeholders, based on discussions with them." http://www.realdeal.hu/20100208/mol-to-focus-on-investments-at-croatian-unit-in-2010 http://www.realdeal.hu/20100208/mol-to-focus-on-investments-at-croatian-unit-in-2010 macro auth_econews energy industry gas ina international mol omv surgutneftegaz zsolt hernadi Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:26:25 +0100 Budapest Ferihegy International Airport operator Budapest Airport (BA) expects passenger traffic at the airport to increase in 2010, reaching or even exceeding its 2008 figure of 8.4m, after falling to 8.1m in 2009, BA Communications Director Mihaly Hardy told MTI on Friday. Mr Hardy remarked that Ferihegy Airport's passenger-traffic data was mixed in January, though certain airlines, such as Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air, Swissair and Norwegian Air recorded excellent turnover during the month. The BA communications director said that the company expects passenger traffic begin to really begin to pick up with the onset of the summer tourist season. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100208/budapest-airport-expects-passenger-traffic-to-increase-this-year http://www.realdeal.hu/20100208/budapest-airport-expects-passenger-traffic-to-increase-this-year macro auth_econews ferihegy airport tourism wizz air Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:25:00 +0100 Guest nights spent at commercial accommodations in Hungary fell 7.0pc to 913,000 in December 2009 from a year earlier, the Central Statistics Office (KSH) said on Monday. Foreign guest nights fell less, by 3.5pc to 441,000 in December and domestic guest nights fell 10.0pc. The fall slowed from 10.7pc in December. Hungary guest nights has been down year-on-year each month since November 2008. Guest nights in 2009 dropped 8.4pc from 2008 to 18.287m, including a 9.8pc fall in foreign guest nights to 9.029m. Guest nights fell 1.5pc in 2008. The number of guests at commercial accomodations fell 5.9pc yr/yr, less than guest nights did, to 413,000 in December and fell 8.3pc to 7.013m in 2009. Foreign guests numbered 186,000 in December 2009, 1.2pc less than their a year earlier, and their full-year number fell 9.7pc in 2009 compared to the previous year to 3.175m. The average hotel occupancy rate was 30.4pc in December after 39pc in November. The average rate for 2009 was 43.0pc. The monthly rate dropped after reaching a 2009 peak at 58.3pc in August. Gross revenue from accommodation dropped 9.0pc yr/yr at current prices to HUF 127.5bn in 2009. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100208/hungary-guest-nights-drop-7-yearonyear-in-december http://www.realdeal.hu/20100208/hungary-guest-nights-drop-7-yearonyear-in-december macro auth_econews hotels ksh tourism Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:22:26 +0100 Hungary's cash flow-based public finance, excluding local councils, ran a 31.3 billion forint (EUR 114.23m) surplus in January, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report on Friday. The central budget had a 38.8 billion forints surplus and separate state funds had a 15.6 billion forints surplus, but the social security funds ran a 23.1 billion forints deficit in January. Public finance revenue came to 1,201.0 billion forints in January. Expenditures reached 1,169.7 billion forints. Central budget revenue was 776.0 billion forints and expenditures reached 737.2 billion forints. The ministry targets a full-year public finance deficit of 870.3 billion forints. In the same month a year earlier, the public finance ran a 37.9 billion forints surplus. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100208/state-runs-surplus-in-january-but-pensions-and-local-govt-deficits-mount http://www.realdeal.hu/20100208/state-runs-surplus-in-january-but-pensions-and-local-govt-deficits-mount macro auth_mti public finances Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:21:06 +0100 posted a detailed comment on the blog of Edward Hugh, the author of Hungary Economy Watch. Oszkó counters the blogger’s criticisms of the effectiveness of the government's fiscal measures and questions the value of drawing comparisons between Hungary and Greece. According to Hugh, the only measures which could come near to being called structural reforms that have been implemented to date are the withdrawal of the "13th-month" pension payment and the cuts in the maternity leave system. These measures are not really reforms at all, but deficit-reducing measures, he adds. In his lengthy response Oszkó cited more than a dozen government measures, including its restructuring of the "generous" housing subsidy system, increasing Hungary’s retirement age, phasing out energy subsidies, introducing performance limits at hospitals, launching the communal work programme and reducing employment taxes.]]> http://www.realdeal.hu/20100205/finance-minister-challenges-blogger-over-reforms http://www.realdeal.hu/20100205/finance-minister-challenges-blogger-over-reforms macro people auth_hatc peter oszko politics Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:10:28 +0100 Hungarian stocks plunged 1,000 points, or 4.57%, to 20,815 points, on Thursday, the biggest decline in months, as fears of debt problems in some European countries and bad employment figures from the US stoked fears regarding the fragility of economic recovery. Turnover was higher than in previous sessions as Ft 28 billion shares changed hands. Balázs S re of brokers Buda-Cash said the “long-awaited” negative correction had hit the markets and share values are likely to continue to fall. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100205/bux-sees-biggest-drop-in-months http://www.realdeal.hu/20100205/bux-sees-biggest-drop-in-months macro auth_hatc bse public markets Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:59:08 +0100 Delegations from the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission on Wednesday began the latest reviews of a EUR 20bn financial support package Hungary was granted in November 2008. The quarterly review is the fifth by the IMF and the fourth by the European Union. A press briefing is expected around the 15th of this month, Financial Ministry officials say. After the previous review, at the end of last year, the delegations acknowledged the progress Hungary has made. This time round, among general government expenditure and income processes, the delegations will review whether reductions on subsidies provided to mass transit are feasible, how the government can make up for revenue shortfalls probable after the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional the residential property tax which could have brought in around HUF 50bn, or 0.2pc of GDP, this year, how budget revenue shortfalls resulting from another decision of the Constitutional Court withdrawing taxation of family allowances will be tackled, and how soon subsidies on gas and district heating will be phased out. The government says the ESA-95 3.8pc of GDP deficit target for this year is not in danger, and this might be helped by better economic performance as well. Last month, the government improved its target for this year to a 0.3pc GDP decrease from it earlier forecast of a 0.6pc fall, and the IMF will probably endorse this projection, experts say. The IMF and EU delegations will again meet opposition Fidesz representatives. On earlier occasions, nothing was officially said about their meetings. Elections are scheduled for April 11, and Fidesz expects a general government deficit of around 5-7pc this year, economic daily Vilaggazdasag recalled on Wednesday. Finance Minister Peter Oszko said in January that Hungary had been able to meet its external-financing requirements from financial markets and no longer needed the IMF money. Mr Oszko added that Hungary, however, continued to benefit from the IMF reviews, which made the country's fiscal reform efforts more credible on financial markets. Hungary may still call down EUR 5.7bn of the package from the IMF, EU and World Bank until October 5, 2010, although the government decided last fall to skip further draw-downs. Of the IMF stand-by loan of about EUR 12.3bn, Hungary drew EUR 4.911bn in November 2008 upon the approval of the package, it followed with drawing down EUR 2.337 in March 2009, EUR 1.4bn in June 2009 and only EUR 55.4m in September 2009. After the last review carried out in December 2009 no further amount has been called down. Of the EU's EUR 6.5bn, Hungary drew down EUR 2bn each in December 2008 and March 2009, then a further EUR 1.5bn in July 2009 and nothing since. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100205/imf-eu-delegations-start-postbailout-review-of-hungary http://www.realdeal.hu/20100205/imf-eu-delegations-start-postbailout-review-of-hungary macro auth_econews european union imf politics public finances Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:56:27 +0100 There were 30,100 new workplaces created in Hungary in January, 108pc more than in December 2009, and up 157.2pc yr/yr, the latest figures from the National Employment Service (AFSZ) show. There were 26,500 jobs still open in January. The number of job-seekers rose 8pc to 653,000 in a month, 28.3pc yr/yr. The seasonally adjusted number of job-seekers rose only 11,500 to 617,400. The government launched communal work programmes in January for HUF 13bn for an estimated 25,000 job-seekers. In January 23 companies announced mass layoffs involving 752 workers. The number of layoffs fell 58pc from December 2009 and decreased 85.6pc yr/yr. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100205/figures-show-over-30000-jobs-created-in-hungary-in-january http://www.realdeal.hu/20100205/figures-show-over-30000-jobs-created-in-hungary-in-january macro people auth_econews business trends employment Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:53:44 +0100 Takarekbank expects Hungary's GDP to grow 0.3pc in 2010 and 2.9pc in 2011, Takarekbank Senior Analyst Gergely Suppan said on Thursday. Hungary's government projects GDP contraction of 0.3pc in 2010. Mr Suppan said that Takarekbank expects the eurozone GDP to grow 1.1pc in 2010 and 1.8pc in 2011. Bank analysts expect average inflation of 3.8pc in 2010 and inflation of 2.6pc at the end of the year. The National Bank of Hungary's base rate could fall to 5.5pc by the time of national elections in April. Mr Suppan predicted that Hungary's unemployment rate will be 11.2pc in the spring and average 10.8pc for the year. The Takarekbank analyst said that the government will likely be able to meet its projected deficit of 3.8pc this year, adding that Hungary's debt as a proportion of GDP could shrink if the forint strengthens. The forint will likely trade at around 260 to the euro at the end of the year. Takarekbank department chief Zoltan Adam said that Hungary could join the ERM-2 exchange-rate mechanism by 2012 if the country's macroeconomic conditions improve, adding that in this event Hungary could introduce the euro in 2015. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100205/takarekbank-says-hungarys-gdp-to-grow-03-this-year-29-in-11 http://www.realdeal.hu/20100205/takarekbank-says-hungarys-gdp-to-grow-03-this-year-29-in-11 macro auth_econews business trends takarekbank Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:52:45 +0100 The forint traded at 273.49 to the euro late Thursday, compared to 269.87 on Wednesday, weakening sharply with other emerging market currencies in the region as risk aversion grew on global markets. The forint weakened past 271 to the euro overnight on Wednesday after trading between 268.90 and 269.90 during the day. The forint traded at 198.37 to the dollar late Thursday, softening from 193.21 on Wednesday. On the secondary market for government securities, secondary market benchmark yields were up 5-18bp over the previous day. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100205/forint-weakens-alongside-other-regional-currencies http://www.realdeal.hu/20100205/forint-weakens-alongside-other-regional-currencies macro auth_econews forex monetary policy Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:51:50 +0100 The Danubius Hotels Group has leased the three-star Hotel Helikon in Keszthely, located on the western shore of Lake Balaton in western Hungary, to H Management Services for a period of five years beginning in March, Danubius Hotels announced on the website of the Budapest Stock Exchange on Thursday evening. Danubius said that the operation of the Hotel Helikon had become increasingly unpredictable due to the shortening of the holiday period spent at Lake Balaton and a strong contraction in the number of foreign tourists visiting the lake. The transaction was thus intended to minimize business risks for Danubius, allowing the company to focus its resources on the operation of hotels of a similar profile. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100205/danubius-leases-balaton-hotel-to-management-group-to-cut-risk-on-downturn http://www.realdeal.hu/20100205/danubius-leases-balaton-hotel-to-management-group-to-cut-risk-on-downturn property auth_econews property: hotels and resorts travel and tourism Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:51:03 +0100