Hungary issues USD 4.25 bn of FX bonds

Hungary has issued forex bonds worth a total 4.25 billion dollars, the finance minister said on Facebook on Thursday.

Offers for the bonds came to over 12 billion dollars, “showing investor confidence in the Hungarian economy remains strong”, Mihály Varga said.

• Hungary’s economy in serious trouble?

The minister noted that Hungary’s year-end public debt ratio had fallen to 73.5 percent of GDP at the end of last year from 76.8 percent at end-2021, while the budget deficit had reached 4.9 percent of GDP, rather than an earlier expected 5.9 percent.

Varga also said the ratio of forex debt within Hungary’s public debt would remain under the 30 percent threshold.

The government will use part of the revenues for early repayment of short-term dollar bonds, he said, adding that “we count on a further reduction in the public debt and a lower deficit this year, too.”