Former Hungarian central bank governor Matolcsy says allegations against him are ‘unfounded’

György Matolcsy, the former governor of the National Bank of Hungary (NBH), said allegations against him and his work while the head of the central bank were “unfounded” in an open letter published by Index.hu on Wednesday.

In the letter, published a day after the the Prosecutor General took over a case involving the NBH from the police, Matolcsy addressed scrutiny of the central bank’s foundations and the renovation of its landmark headquarters.

He noted that the NBH foundations operated independently and were not influenced by the NBH. “They do not play any role in the fulfillment of the NBH’s tasks nor do they appear in the central bank’s balance sheet,” he said.

Matolcsy said reports of losses at the foundations failed to make a distinction between realised and unrealised losses. He explained that the current share price of listed Polish property developer Global Trade Centre, in which the foundations hold a 62.6pc stake, did not reflect the “real, high value” of the company’s real estate portfolio. He added that the shares had been acquired, in 2020, in the framework of a “buy-and-hold” strategy.

Matolcsy said the NBH foundations were not established “for short-term speculation” but for a horizon extending “many decades”.

He pointed to central bank measures under his watch that had provided a lifeline to businesses during the pandemic and supported corporate lending. He also highlighted the more than USD 10 billion appreciation of the value of the gold in the central bank’s international reserves.

Responding to criticism of the cost of renovating the central bank’s headquarters, Matolcsy said the building had not undergone a full-scale reconstruction since its completion some 120 years earlier.

“The asset value of the building and its fixtures are reflected in the NBH’s balance sheet and, in the long term, it serves the benefit of the Hungarian state and the Hungarian financial system,” he added.

“I will contribute, without reservation, to a probe of the NBH’s work in 2013-2025 conducted in a transparent manner by any authority,” Matolcsy said.

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