Hungary issued USD 4.25 bn of dollar bonds, because Brussels ‘expects submission’ in exchange for funds
Hungary issued 4.25 billion dollars of dollar bonds in a transaction that was four times oversubscribed, under favourable conditions, at a low interest rate and long,10- and 30-year maturities, Finance Minister Mihály Varga said in a video posted on Facebook on Wednesday.
Varga said later in the day that Hungary also sold euro-denominated bonds worth one billion euros. The Government Debt Management Agency (ÁKK) said Hungary sold 2.25 billion dollars worth of 10-year bonds with a 2.125 percent coupon and 2 billion dollars worth of 30-year bonds with a 3.125 percent coupon, at 100 basis points and 150 basis points over corresponding US Treasuries. The issue was lead managed by BNP Paribas, Citi, Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE and J.P. Morgan.
ÁKK on Monday said it modified its 2021 issue plan to make room for an additional 4.5 billion euros of FX bond issue to help
ÁKK on Monday said it modified its 2021 issue plan to make room for an additional 4.5 billion euros of FX bond issue to help
cover a likely delay in European Union COVID recovery fund money, certain government expenditures in 2021 and for partial pre-financing of the 2022 budget deficit.
Regarding the timing of the bond issue Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said on Wednesday at a weekly press briefing, that at the moment it is possible to borrow on favourable terms in the market due to the budgetary situation and economic growth in Hungary. Gulyás said that the government requires funds to run its prefinancing system of distributing EU development grants but said that the favourable terms could also allow the refinancing of exiting loans with better conditions.
“Brussels expects submission in exchange for financial assistance” to reduce the impact of the coronavirus, the justice minister said on Facebook on Wednesday. Judit Varga said that “Brussels uses recovery funds to have a say in the formulation of national policies”. She cited Romania as an example, which had been “forced to raise taxes, impose constraints and liberalise education before receiving aid during the pandemic”. She insisted, however, that
the Hungarian economy was strong, adding that “Brussels cannot force any restrictions on us”
MEPs of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party have voiced protest over the European Commission’s “attempts to settle disputes with central and eastern Europe by way of sheer force”, Tamás Deutsch, one of the group, said on Wednesday. Speaking before Hungarian journalists, Deutsch said that
“the European ideological mainstream’s violent, illegitimate and anti-democratic attitude… destroys European cooperation and seriously undermines the unity of the European Union”.
He said that EC President Ursula von der Leyen’s recent state of the EU speech had promoted an “utterly false utopia”, which failed to address “any issues around Europe, European citizens, or the everyday problems of 27 member states”. Von der Leyen has “given an invitation to many million illegal migrants” and “expressed clear support to an agressive sexual gender propaganda financed from outside Europe”, he insisted. Deutsch went on to say that the EC president had “illusory green daydreams” and had made proposals under which the cost of a green turnaround would be paid by millions of Europeans rather than by the largest pollutants, which are to blame for climate change.
Source: MTI