HungaryTrends – The week in business and finance

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

HUNGARY URGES RENEWAL OF EU-AZERBAIJAN STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

Hungary urges the European Union and Azerbaijan to reach an agreement on renewing their strategic partnership because the most likely scenario for diversifying Europe’s gas supply is importing gas from Azerbaijan, Hungary’s foreign minister said after talks with Azeri officials in Baku on Friday. Read more HERE.

AIRBRIDGECARGO AIRLINES OFFERS A NEW CARGO DESTINATION: BUDAPEST AIRPORT 

AirBridgeCargo Airlines, one of the world’s leading international cargo carriers, offers a new cargo destination for its European customers with the launch of bi-weekly frequencies to Budapest in the pursuit to accommodate growing volumes between Europe and Asia. The new service, deploying Boeing 747 freighters, adds to the emerging network of destinations AirBridgeCargo currently offers, totalling them to 11. Read more HERE. 

HUNGARY KEEN TO DIVERSIFY ITS ENERGY SUPPLIES, OPEN TO SOLUTIONS 

Hungary is keen to diversify its energy supplies and, besides the Russian gas, use other sources of energy, a foreign ministry official said on the sidelines of an international conference held jointly by the Atlantic Council think-tank and Hungary. Read more HERE.

FORINT WEAKENS TO HISTORIC LOW

The forint weakened to a historic low against the euro, even slipping past 330 to the common currency. The National Bank of Hungary said it did not wish to comment on exchange rates, but added that it did not “share the opinion” of a government spokesman who suggested speculators could be behind the depreciation. Read more HERE.

BUSINESS CONFIDENCE IMPROVES FURTHER

The business confidence index of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (MKIK) Economic Research Institute (GVI) rose to 39 points in April from 37 points in January. The quarterly index, which is based on a survey of 400 company managers, reached a new high.

JOBLESS RATE 3.7 PC

Hungary’s rolling average three-month jobless rate reached 3.7 percent in May, down from 3.8 percent in the previous month and 4.4 percent in the same period a year earlier, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said. Read more HERE.

FOSS BREAKS GROUND FOR EUR 6m R+D BASE IN PÉCS

Danish biotechnology company Foss laid the cornerstone of a 2 billion forint (EUR 6m) R+D centre in Pécs in southern Hungary. The government is supporting the investment, which will create 88 jobs, with a 773 million forint grant.

WHEAT HARVEST COULD REACH 5M TONNES

The Agriculture Ministry said this year’s wheat harvest is expected to reach 5 million tonnes, although it cautioned that the estimate could change as more harvest data becomes available. Unseasonably warm weather has pushed harvest times several weeks ahead: about 1 million tonnes of grain have already been harvested on some 250,000 hectares.

Featured image: MTI

Source: MTI