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Hungary Trends – The previous week in business and finance
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Budapest (MTI) – See below MTI’s main business and financial news from the previous week:
EC RESPONDS TO “STOP BRUSSELS” NATL CONSULTATION; ORBÁN RETORTS
The European Commission issued a response to “factually incorrect” or “highly misleading” claims and allegations it said were made in a national consultation with Hungarian households. The EC said claims that “Brussels is attacking our job-creating measures” and “Brussels is attacking our country because of tax cuts” were “false”. The EC said it is “massively supporting” job creation in Hungary and that it “does not interfere” in national taxation polices. Addressing the EC’s stand on the matter in the European Parliament, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said the government fails to understand why the EC repeatedly criticises Hungary’s fostered work programme in its annual country reports. The programme is an important element of work-based, rather than welfare-based, society, he added.
HUNGARY DAIMLER PLANT OUTPUT CLIMBS TO 190,000 CARS IN 2016
Output of German carmaker Daimler’s plant in Kecskemét, in central Hungary, rose by 3.8 percent close to 190,000 vehicles last year, Mercedes-Benz Manufacturing Hungary said. Revenue of the production unit edged up to 3.4 billion euros.
FISCAL COUNCIL GIVES 2018 BUDGET BILL HIGH MARKS
The Fiscal Council said it “has no fundamental objections concerning the enforceability and the credibility of the 2018 budget bill that would warrant it signalling its disagreement” in an opinion. The Council warned that lower than expected exports could pose a downside risk to economic growth, but the main drivers of growth would remain domestic consumption, supported by higher wage growth.
ERSTE BANK HUNGARY PLANS COST-SAVING MEASURES
Austrian-owned Erste Bank Hungary chairman-CEO Radovan Jelasity said the lender plans to cut staff 7-9 percent and merge its brokerage into the parent company, thus bringing its cost-to-revenue ratio under 60 percent in 2018. The bank’s cost-to-revenue ratio is 63 percent at present, excluding the impact of the transaction duty. Erste Bank Hungary’s headcount stands at around 3,000.