The American dollar broke a new psychological barrier against forint

PM Orbán talked about a fantastic 2025 concerning the country’s economy and economic growth, but it seems markets do not share his optimism. For example, the American dollar broke another psychological barrier against the forint, while the euro continues to strengthen against the Hungarian national currency.

Gradual forint weakening

According to the Hungarian News Agency, “the forint traded at 415.56 to the euro around 5:30 on Friday evening, softening from 413.64 late Thursday. The forint edged up to 403.53 from 403.67 against the dollar. It slipped to 443.71 from 442.37 to the Swiss franc.”

On Friday, the euro traded at 416.01, which is not far from the 2-year historic low of 19 December 2023. Furthermore, it is not far from the 423.8 low of 8 October 2022. What’s even more troubling is that the forint’s weakening against the common currency has been gradual in the last few months, as you may check out below:

Hungary’s 2025 state budget was calculated with a 397.5 EUR/HUF currency exchange rate.

The American dollar broke a new psychological barrier

The strengthening of the American dollar is also gradual, and on 2 January, it broke another psychological barrier, exceeding 400 USD/HUF. Now, it is trading at 403.24/USD. The historic low was also on 8 October 2022, when the American currency cost 435.57 forints. This week, its maximum was at 405.093.

According to 444.hu, there are multiple reasons behind the weakening of the forint. Some of these are the low Hungarian base rate, the slow Hungarian economic growth, the high budget deficit, the Orbán cabinet’s clashes with the EU, and the lost EU funds. According to Portfolio, the Hungarian economy’s only hope is Trump, who may turn the global economy upside down with new and increased customs and protectionist measures.

There are no regional reasons behind the forint’s fall since it fell against the Polish zloty. On Friday, the zloty traded at 97.432, close to its historic maximum (97.961). Currently, one zloty costs 97.35 forints.

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Featured image: depositphotos.com