http://www.realdeal.hu/ en Copyright 2010 Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:23:56 +0100 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Following the introduction of new regulations for professional property agents, real estate agents and appraisal agents late last year, individuals with one of these job descriptions will be required to possess a state approved National Training Notary (OKJ) license by May 10th or by May 25th at the latest, vg.hu reports. If a company offers any of these services, then at least one owner or employee must be fully licensed, with the regional notary carrying out annual checks. János Kiss, director of Perfekt Zrt. stated his belief that the new regulations will lead to many agents signing up for training courses to acquire these qualifications, meaning a sudden flood in applications for those offering the courses, just like how interest in graduate school spikes whenever the economy nosedives.]]> http://www.realdeal.hu/20100311/new-regulations-to-send-property-agents-back-to-school http://www.realdeal.hu/20100311/new-regulations-to-send-property-agents-back-to-school observer property property: commercial property: legislation property: residential real estate Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:23:56 +0100 Because Hungarian government agencies are always just a few weeks away from announcing some type of goofy public relations contest, the national tax office APEH announced that it was planning to organize a children's story and comic-writing competition where inspectors, collectors and even the office's leaders can enter, fn.hu reports. The creations will later be used in a tax awareness campaign aimed at kindergartners and elementary school kids, apparently to get to them before they realize that no one in Hungary properly pays their taxes. But then things hit a bump in the road, or this being Hungary, a pothole.]]> http://www.realdeal.hu/20100311/tax-authoritys-cartoon-contest-cancelled-due-to-lack-of-tax-revenues http://www.realdeal.hu/20100311/tax-authoritys-cartoon-contest-cancelled-due-to-lack-of-tax-revenues media/marketing observer apeh public finances tax Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:20:39 +0100 The state-owned Russian Vnesheconombank has transferred the EUR 32m bank guarantee that is part of Hungarian national carrier Malev's former privatisation contract, Finance Ministry spokesman Ferenc Pichler told MTI. According to an agreement late February between Malev's owners and the Finance Ministry, the Hungarian state will take over 95pc of the airline. The stake held by Malev's previous owner, the Hungarian company Airbridge, will drop to 5pc. The guarantee originally covered Airbridge for rental fees that Malev had to pay to the Hungarian State Holding Company. The spokesperson added that the Hungarian government will carry out the capital raise on Thursday. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100311/russian-bank-pays-malev-guarantee http://www.realdeal.hu/20100311/russian-bank-pays-malev-guarantee macro airlines auth_econews international malev politics privatization vnesheconombank Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:36:56 +0100 State-owned Hungarian postal company Magyar Posta plans to begin offering some of its services in other central and eastern European countries, specifically Romania and Ukraine, by the complete liberalization of Hungary's postal services on January 1, 2013, the business daily Vilaggazdasag reported on Thursday, citing Magyar Posta CEO Ildiko Szuts. Ms Szuts said that Magyar Posta intends to implement its planned expansion in cooperation with a western European postal service. The Magyar Posta CEO noted that in 2010 the company will spend HUF 10bn (EUR 37.45) on investments, which will include construction of a second logistics center just northeast of Budapest, establishment of an international exchange hub at Budapest Ferihegy International Airport and renovation of the 98 busiest post offices in Hungary. Ms Szuts remarked that Magyar Posta intends to compensate for the decline in traditional postal activities with an increase in financial, money-transfer and electronic services. The Magyar Posta CEO said that the company already derives 75pc of its revenue from competitive market-operations. Magyar Posta generated revenue of HUF 193.76bn in 2009, down 1.88pc from HUF 197.49bn in 2008, and after-tax profit of HUF 6.53bn last year, down from 16.6pc from HUF 7.83bn from the previous year. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100311/magyar-posta-aims-to-expand-into-other-regional-countries http://www.realdeal.hu/20100311/magyar-posta-aims-to-expand-into-other-regional-countries company news media/marketing auth_econews international magyar posta romania ukraine Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:35:31 +0100 The outlook of Hungary's biggest companies worsened slightly in February, while that of SMEs continued to improved, the latest measure of confidence by economic research institute Ecostat shows. Ecostat's TOP-100 measure of confidence at the country's biggest hundred companies fell 2.3 percentage points to 69.5pc in February compared to January. The SME confidence index rose 5.4 percentage points to 73.2pc. In January, both indices rose slightly. Among big companies, 21pc said output rose in the previous three months, while it fell for 35pc. About 30pc expect production to grow in the next three months and 48pc see it staying unchanged. About 27pc of big companies expect domestic demand to grow and 39pc see demand on export markets rising. Two-thirds said stock levels were average for the time of year. The percentage of companies planning investments fell to 40pc in February from 43pc in January and 51pc in December. More than half of big companies said current staff levels were appropriate. One-third planned layoffs. Among SMEs, 17pc said production grew in the past three months and 47pc said it fell. About 38pc expect output to grow in the coming three months and 42pc see it stagnating. About 28pc expect demand on the domestic market to increase and 45pc see demand on foreign market stagnating. About 60pc of SMEs said staff levels were appropriate but 23pc said they could make layoffs. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100311/outlook-of-big-companies-worsens-slightly-in-february-research-shows http://www.realdeal.hu/20100311/outlook-of-big-companies-worsens-slightly-in-february-research-shows macro auth_econews business trends ecostat employment smes Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:34:47 +0100 Hungary had a EUR 290.4m trade surplus in January 2010 as against a EUR 200m deficit a year earlier, the Central Statistics Office said in a first reading on Thursday. Following exports, now imports also started to rise yr/yr. The January surplus came after a December surplus of EUR 375m. Hungary had a trade surplus each month since January 2009, and posted a full-year surplus of EUR 3.979bn in 2009. Exports rose 14.6pc in twelve months to EUR 4.783bn in January 2010 and imports rose 2.7pc to EUR 4.493bn in the period, both from a low base. Euro-term imports rose for the first time in January after steady yr/yr declines each month starting November 2008. Exports rose now for the second month in a row after a 8.8pc increase in December and uninterrupted declines between October 2008 and November 2009. 2009 exports fell 18.9pc in euro terms and imports were down 24.7pc from 2008. KSH will publish a second reading of January external trade figures, including details on April 2. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100311/hungary-posts-trade-surplus-of-290-million-in-january http://www.realdeal.hu/20100311/hungary-posts-trade-surplus-of-290-million-in-january macro auth_econews ksh Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:33:45 +0100 Hungary's National Infrastructure Development Company (NIF) has issued a tender for construction of roads necessary to reach a planned MotoGP motorcycle track in the village of Savoly near Lake Balaton, the latest issue of the Public Procurement Gazette reveals. The deadline for bids to build the approximately 1km of roadway is April 19. The winner of the tender is scheduled to be announced on April 29. The roads must be completed by June 15 of this year. The Hungarian Development Bank (MFB) will sign a HUF 15.3bn (EUR 57.2m) credit contract for the planned motorcycle racetrack near Lake Balaton if all conditions regarding the credit and the collaterals are in order as judged by the bank and its legal advisors , Minister of the Economy Istvan Varga said in a televised interview late on Sunday. Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai asked the economy minister on February 26 to take immediate measures to see that an impact study of a planned motorcycle racetrack near Lake Balaton is made public as soon as possible. The request followed a report the previous day that finance ministry experts said in an internal document that state support for the planned construction of the MotoGP racetrack was too risky, uneconomical and unlawful. The government decided last fall to grant HUF 20bn in state subsidies and a state-guaranteed MFB loan of at most HUF 15.3bn for Savoly Motorcentrum Fejleszto, which is building the HUF 40bn racetrack called Balatonring. However, Finance Minister Peter Oszko has still not signed the contract. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100311/state-infrastructure-company-issues-tender-for-building-of-roads-to-race-track http://www.realdeal.hu/20100311/state-infrastructure-company-issues-tender-for-building-of-roads-to-race-track property auth_econews construction gordon bajnai infrastructure istvan varga mfb moto gp nif peter oszko politics property: countryside public finances Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:33:14 +0100 A staff accountant at Budapest public transport company BKV told mayor Gábor Demszky that its employees "steal, cheat, embezzle and produce bogus invoices", in a letter in 2006. Demszky ignored the letter, explaining that the accountant had not specified details. When the accountant requested a hearing with Demszky, his secretary sent him to then deputy mayor Pál Vajda, who refused to receive him, saying he was not authorised to do so. In a telephone conversation Vajda told the accountant that he should compile a report. The accountant was fired shortly afterwards and initiated a lawsuit against BKV. Demszky responded that Vajda and former deputy mayor Miklós Hagyó had examined the accountant's letters and deemed their content entirely unfounded. Hagyó told MTI on Wednesday that he is ready to face any inquiry into his activity, assets or property purchases. Hagyó said he can verify his property purchases with authentic documents. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100311/accountant-warned-demszky-over-bkv-in-2006 http://www.realdeal.hu/20100311/accountant-warned-demszky-over-bkv-in-2006 macro auth_hatc bkv budapest government corruption gabor demszky miklos hagyo pal vajda politics Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:32:24 +0100 index.hu reports, based on other reports appearing in the press. Balogh recently implicated several Socialist politicians from Budapest in a confession to police. On March 6th, daily Magyar Nemzet published an interview with him in which he said that Miklós Hagyó, former Socialist deputy mayor of Budapest, received roughly Ft 70 million (over €260,000) from the company through him. Balogh added that he once gave Ft 15 million to Hagyó in cash in a Nokia phone box.]]> http://www.realdeal.hu/20100310/former-bkv-chief-named-as-a-suspect-in-corruption-case http://www.realdeal.hu/20100310/former-bkv-chief-named-as-a-suspect-in-corruption-case macro bkv budapest government corruption miklos hagyo mszp politics zsolt balogh Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:10:39 +0100 Hungarian oil and gas company MOL on Tuesday said it had a made a discovery in a block in Iraq. MOL is evaluating a promising result from a test at a well in the Akri-Bijeel Block in the Kurdistan Region. MOL plans another exploration well in the block at the end of 2010. MOL's wholly-owned unit Kalegran signed a production-sharing contract with the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq on exploring the Akri-Bijeel Block in 2007. MOL has an 80pc share of the block and Gulf Keystone Petroleum International a 20pc share. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100310/mol-makes-discovery-in-iraq http://www.realdeal.hu/20100310/mol-makes-discovery-in-iraq macro auth_econews energy industry international mol oil and gas Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:40:19 +0100 Hungarian financial market regulator PSZAF is taking steps against banks that make it prohibitively costly for borrowers to restructure their loans, PSZAF head Adam Farkas said at a meeting of the Hungarian Business Salon on Monday. One-off charges are making it impossible for some borrowers to restructure their loans, Mr Farkas said. The law puts a cap on one-off fees for early repayment, but for other fees banks must follow the principle of charging the same fee for the same service, he said, answering a question by MTI. If banks charge several different fees for the same service, PSZAF uses the tools available to it to take action, he added. As competition grows, the cost of borrowing will fall, Mr Farkas said. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100310/pszaf-takes-steps-against-banks-that-overcharge-for-restructuring-loans http://www.realdeal.hu/20100310/pszaf-takes-steps-against-banks-that-overcharge-for-restructuring-loans macro auth_econews banking industry consumer protection pszaf Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:39:13 +0100 Hungary's gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.4pc in the fourth quarter of 2009 from the third quarter according to seasonally and calendar-adjusted figures, and fell an unadjusted 4.0pc and a workday-adjusted 4.1pc from Q4 2008, unchanged from the preliminary ones, the Central Statistics Office (KSH) said in a second reading on Wednesday. The quarterly contraction was the smallest one since Q3 2008. The yr/yr contraction slowed now for the second quarter. Hungary's GDP has fallen now for the seventh quarter in a row in an adjusted quarterly comparison, and has contracted for the fifth quarter in an annual comparison. GDP in 2009 fell 6.3pc according to unadjusted figures and fell 6.2pc according to calendar-adjusted figures. The contraction was below the official projection for a 6.7pc GDP drop. Hungary' GDP was HUF 26,095bn at current prices in 2009, and GDP per head was HUF 2.604m. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100310/hungary-gdp-down-4-yearonyear-in-q4-drops-63-in-2009 http://www.realdeal.hu/20100310/hungary-gdp-down-4-yearonyear-in-q4-drops-63-in-2009 macro auth_econews ksh Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:38:19 +0100 The Bajnai government has already spent about half of the budget reserves available to it in the first half of the year. The 2010 budget contains 57.3 billion forints (EUR 214.44m) of general reserves, of which the government may spend 40 percent - about 22.9 billion forints - in the first half of the year, business daily Napi Gazdasag said on Tuesday. The Bajnai government called down about 10 billion forints of the reserves when it renationalised airline Malev at the end of February. It has also taken out 800 million forints for flood defense, 500 million to raise the social ministry's crisis fund, 41 million to pay for depositors' losses at failed savings and loan Altalanos Kozlekedesi Hitelszovetkezet above the amount covered by the National Deposit Insurance Fund, and more than 50 million for purses to be presented with Szechenyi and Kossuth prizes on the March 15 national holiday, the paper said. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100310/bajnai-govt-spends-half-of-budget-reserves-available-in-first-half-2010 http://www.realdeal.hu/20100310/bajnai-govt-spends-half-of-budget-reserves-available-in-first-half-2010 macro auth_mti gordon bajnai politics public finances Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:37:35 +0100 The situation in Hungary is "not ripe" for the euro; the European currency could only be adopted in 2015 or 2016, former central bank governor Zsigmond Jarai said in Budapest on Tuesday. Speaking at a conference of the Association of Employers and Industrialists, Jarai said that the actual situation of the Hungarian economy was worse than it appeared to be. "Hungary is kept afloat by the IMF loan," he said. Hungary secured a 20 billion euro bailout led by the IMF in October 2008 in order to avert meltdown amidst the global financial crisis. By the time Hungary has a new government after the elections in April, the budget deficit will reach the amount projected for 2010 as a whole, the former central bank head said. Jarai said that the next government would have to prepare a new budget based on "drastic" tax cuts with no delay. Hungary needs a budget that will make its economy more competitive, he said, adding that all this requires the introduction of "a fiscal dictatorship". Jarai emphasised that he expounded his own views rather than Fidesz's economic policy but added that there were some overlaps between the two. Jarai was finance minister in the Fidesz-led government from 1998 to 2001 and then headed the National Bank of Hungary until 2007. http://www.realdeal.hu/20100310/euro-entry-in-2015-or-2016-former-central-bank-head-says http://www.realdeal.hu/20100310/euro-entry-in-2015-or-2016-former-central-bank-head-says macro auth_mti euro fidesz imf politics zsigmond jarai Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:36:54 +0100 napi.hu. According to FHB deputy CEO László Harmati, the most recent quarterly price index suggests that the rate of decline is slowing down, but that a turnaround might be as far away as 2011. Last year, the index indicated an overall drop in prices of 7.6%. In terms of the Budapest market, different areas of the city saw different trends, with the more prestigious areas of Buda seeing shallower declines. But drops 5%- 20% are apparent everywhere in the capital, while there are a growing number of empty rental properties and a corresponding drop in rents. Meanwhile, the economic crisis has not impacted all property segments negatively, as double-digit price increases have been common for unimproved plots of land.]]> http://www.realdeal.hu/20100309/mortgage-bank-fhb-predicts-further-9-drop-in-hungarian-property-prices http://www.realdeal.hu/20100309/mortgage-bank-fhb-predicts-further-9-drop-in-hungarian-property-prices property property: residential Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:54:04 +0100