Will Hungary’s forint get stronger or weaker due to the government’s latest decision?

The Hungarian government decided yesterday evening to scrap the fuel price caps introduced last November to keep the soaring prices at bay. It seems that yesterday’s resolution helped the Hungarian forint to strengthen against the euro this morning.

According to portfolio.hu, the exchange rate of Hungary’s national currency bettered this morning against the euro. Currently, the rate is around 410, 0.35 percent lower than yesterday evening. However, yesterday the forint was above 415. That is bad news because the exchange rate has been between 405 and 415 since October. If there was a trend change and the forint broke the 415 thresholds, that could open a path of weakening for the Hungarian currency exchange in December.

The good news is that the Hungarian national bank did not modify the interest rate of its one-day deposit quick tenders. That remained at 18 percent, the Hungarian economic news website wrote.

The external factors affecting the forint’s value remained unchanged. First, the international business atmosphere, second the November Hungarian inflation data is to be published later today. However, both will probably be disadvantageous. Finally, the question of EU funds is still not resolved. Hungary got access to the RRF amounts but was refused to receive the development funds. Budapest badly needs both sources. The media speculates that this could be the reason why Hungary vetoed the joint EU loan for Ukraine.

Read alsoHungarian currency: will EUR/HUF be 450 or 350 sooner?

Hungary industry output up 5.9 pc yr/yr in Oct

Meanwhile, the Hungarian industrial output grew by an annual 5.9 percent in October, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said today early morning.
Adjusted for the number of working days, output increased by 5.1 percent. The output of the automotive industry and the computer, electronics and optical equipment sectors showed “significant” growth, KSH said, while the increase in output of the food, drinks and tobacco products segment fell slightly. In the Jan-Oct period, output grew by an annual 6.6 percent. Month on month, output increased by 3.5 percent, based on seasonally and working day-adjusted data.

Hungary agriculture output up by 15.2 pc in 2022

Output value of Hungary’s agriculture sector grew by 15.2 percent in 2022, lifted by higher prices, a first estimate released by the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Wednesday. Output volume fell by 18.7 percent, while prices climbed 41.7 percent. In absolute terms, output value of the farm sector reached 3,950 billion forints (EUR 9.6bn).

Source: portfolio.hu, MTI