HUNGARYTRENDS – The most important news in business and finance from the previous week

Budapest (MTI) – See below MTI’s main business and financial news from the previous week:

HUNGARY CPI CLIMBS TO 1.1 PC IN NOV

Consumer prices in Hungary rose 1.1 percent year-on-year in November, accelerating from a 1.0 percent increase in the previous month. The headline figure was slightly lower than the 1.2 percent analysts’ consensus.

BUDAPEST CLEARS NEXT HURDLE IN BID TO HOST 2024 OLYMPICS

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved the second round of documentation for Budapest’s bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games. The IOC declared Budapest “a perfectly suitable city” that is “an equal competitor with Paris and Los Angeles”, Balazs Furjes, the government commissioner for the bid, told MTI.

HUNGARY INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT EDGES DOWN 2.1PC IN OCT

Hungary’s industrial output fell 2.1 percent year-on-year in October, slowing from a 3.7 percent decline in the previous month, the Central Statistics Office (KSH) said in a first reading of data. In a month-on-month comparison, industrial output rose 2.0 percent, adjusted for seasonal and workday effects.

GOVT SUBMITS BILL THAT WOULD SET 9 PC FLAT-RATE CORPORATE TAX

Economy Minister Mihaly Varga submitted a bill to Parliament that would establish a 9 percent flat-rate corporate tax from January 1, 2017. The bill would also reduce the payroll tax from 27 percent to 22 percent from next year and to 20 percent from 2018.

PARLT APPROVES AMENDMENTS TO PUBLIC PROCUREMENT LAW

Parliament approved amendments to legislation that will require public institutions to get at least three bids for procurements of 1 million forints (EUR 3,180) or more. The law also allows the government to exempt certain purchases from public procurement rules “if the use of a public procurement procedure would not serve the aim of efficiently using public monies with a view to the particularities of purchases made with support”.

ENKSZ buys EDF Demasz

Hungary’s state-owned utilities company ENKSZ signed a contract to acquire EDF Demasz, a regional electricity distributor, from France’s EDF International. The transaction is expected to be closed early next year, pending regulatory approval. Demasz supplies about 775,000 retail and business customers in southeast Hungary.