HungaryTrends – Business and finance news from the previous week

See below MTI’s main business and financial news from the previous week:

BUDAPEST IS THE THIRD CITY IN THE WORLD WITH THE HIGHEST FLAT PRICE GROWTH

Knight Frank revealed its Global Residential Cities Index of 2018 to represent the price increase of flats and estates in major cities. The statistics revealed that the Hungarian capital has the highest rate of annual growth, read more HERE.

ROMANIAN MINIMUM WAGE HIGHER THAN HUNGARIAN?

The Hungarian minimum wage has risen up to 149,000 Hungarian Forints gross (463 Euros)  – 99,085 HUF in net price (308 EUR). If we compare it with the regional countries’ minimum wage, is it relatively a high amount or not? What if we compare the region’s increase rates? Lot of questions to be answered below. Romanian minimum wage higher than Hungarian? – Read more HERE.

RECORD YEAR AT BUDAPEST AIRPORT: 14.9 MILLION PASSENGERS IN 2018

Double-digit passenger traffic growth in 2018 resulted in approximately 14.9 million passengers in total at Budapest Airport, making the capital city airport of Hungary the fastest growing airport in the Central Eastern European region. Solid growth figures are the basis of the long-term airport development plans of Budapest Airport which envisage an investment of no less than 700 million Euro into the airport infrastructure in upcoming years, including a brand new terminal building, read more HERE.

OTP RAISES CAPITAL AT BULGARIAN UNIT

OTP Bank said in a stock exchange disclosure that a capital increase, to 1.327 billion Bulgarian lev (EUR 678m) from 154 million, was registered at its Bulgarian unit, DSK Bank. In a separate statement sent to MTI, OTP said the capital raise was related to its acquisition of the Bulgarian unit of France’s Societe Generale Group, but added that it exceeds the purchase price of the business which was not disclosed.

NBH POLICY MAKERS SIGNAL UNCONVENTIONAL INSTRUMENTS WILL BE ADJUSTED BEFORE ANY RATE RISE

The National Bank of Hungary‘s Monetary Council signalled any future tightening would start with adjustments to unconventional policy tools, before any changes to the base rate, in the minutes from a monthly policy meeting in December. “The Monetary Council was prepared for the gradual and cautious normalisation of monetary policy, which would begin with the modification of unconventional instruments,” according to the minutes.

NBH INTERNATIONAL RESERVES UP EUR 2.69 BN IN DECEMBER

The National Bank of Hungary’s international reserves stood at 27.403 billion euros at the end of December, rising a marked 2.69 billion from the end of the previous month, preliminary data showed. The reserves may have been lifted by the proceeds from a RMB 2 billion “panda” bond targeted at the domestic Chinese market and some 1.7 billion euros in EU development funding that arrived from Brussels in December.

GOVERNMENT FORMS STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH TUNGSRAM

The Hungarian government signed a strategic partnership agreement with lighting company Tungsram. Last year, former General Electric executive Jorg Bauer acquired GE’s lighting business in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Turkey, as well as its global automotive lighting business. He gave the business back its old name, Tungsram, a global Hungarian brand that is still synonymous with lighting products in many parts of the world, more than a century after its establishment.

MABISZ LAUNCHES DIGITAL ACCIDENT STATEMENT

The Association of Hungarian Insurance Companies (MABISZ) launched a digital accident statement that motorists can fill in on their smartphones. The digital accident statement is tantamount to the familiar blue and yellow paper accident statement, but is easier and faster to fill out.

Source: MTI