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Budapest Business Journal | Feb 22 – March 07
sector shrank by 5.9% last year. ÉVOSz, the association of construction fi rms, expects the fi rst half of 2013 to bring another 2-3% contraction with stagnation in the second half. The group’s deputy chairman László Koji told business daily Napi Gazdaság that a tumult of newly revised sectorial legislations makes the operation of building fi rms even more confusing and difficult than before.
NUMBER OF REGISTERED JOBSEEKERS INCREASING
TRIGRANIT FORMS PARTNERSHIP WITH MACEDONIAN PEER Hungarian property developer TriGranit has signed a cooperation agreement with Macedonia’s ERA Group Holding. Under the agreement, TriGranit’s property management unit will be involved in operating ERA Group’s Skopje International Exposition and Fair Center and a neighboring events center. ERA Group has plans to build a new shopping, entertainment, office and hotel center in the capital. Macedonia is the tenth country in the region in which TriGranit has
FASTEST OUTFLOWS FROM CEE BANKS RECORDED IN HUNGARY Capital withdrawal by for-
Photo: Attila Kovács/MTI
After deterioration in November and December, the State Employment Service (NFSz) found that yet another 79,000 people have appeared on the
BUSINESS
final license for trains it is delivering for Budapest’s new underground line, the mayor’s office said. The receipt of the license from the national transport authority NKA will allow Alstom to start production and delivery of the vehicles for the number four metro line, which is still under construction, the office said. The driverless “Metropolis” trains each have four carriages. Alstom is also supplying trains for the capital’s number two metro line, replacing Soviet-era vehicles that are some 40 years old.
albeit this process has already decelerated. It also said that the decline in the Hungarian banking sector’s loan-to-deposit ratio from a 165% peak to around 110% shows that deleveraging has gone a long way but will likely continue until the LTD ratio stabilizes below 100%.
MINISTRY TO NEGOTIATE WITH BANKS ON INCENTIVES FOR INCREASED LENDING The National Economy Ministry will hold talks again with banks and offer them significant preferences for expanding their lending activities, daily Magyar Nemzet wrote, citing state secretary for tax and financial affairs Gyula Pleschinger. The government is trying to reach an agreement with banks that offers incentives for increases in lending activity, Pleschinger told the paper. Lenders could be offered rebates or write-offs on the bank levy, he added. The government wants to offer banks a “more aggressive” system of preferences in the agreement, which could be reached by the end of spring, Pleschinger told Radio G7, the paper said. The Hungarian Banking Association simply said it is preparing for the talks with the ministry when asked about the report in Magyar Nemzet.
MEDIA MARKT, BAUMAX TO LAUNCH ONLINE SALES
BIG NEWCOMER TO BUDAPEST ZOO An elephant was born in the Budapest Zoo on February 14, weighing in at 75 kilograms and a height of 85 centimeters. After an initial scare about whether the newborn would survive, it started feeding unassisted and is healthy. Visitors will shortly be allowed to see it after it grows more accommodated to its environment. job market in January, which marks a 13.9% increase. The statistic means the agency has 648,000 unemployed people in its records. The number of new openings dropped: 3,000 companies announced demand for a combined workforce of 20,500. There were 47,400 unfilled jobs in the month.
a presence. The company has completed more than €2.5 bln of developments and is working on projects worth a further €4 bln.
ALSTOM ACQUIRES LICENSE FOR METRO 4 TRAINS French engineering giant Alstom has acquired the
eign banks over the past four years was fastest in Hungary in the Central and Eastern European region, business site Portfolio reported citing a research note by Citigroup published on February12. Citi found Hungary to be the most vulnerable, saying deleveraging will continue,
Consumer electronics and household appliance retailer Media Markt and do-ityourself chain bauMax both plan to launch online sales, business daily Napi Gazdaság said. The Hungarian unit of UK retailer Tesco told MTI in January that it would launch its own webshop in the first quarter of this year. Communications directors for the local units of Auchan and Spar told MTI the retailers were considering online sales but had not taken any decisions on the matter. Online pur-
chases by consumers in Hungary came to HUF 155 bln in 2011, according to a survey by GKIeNET and T-Mobile.
ZSOLNAY GETS NEWS OWNER Porcelain maker Zsolnay Porcelánmanufaktúra Zrt has a new majority owner after Swiss-Syrian businessman Bachar Najari paid the city of Pécs HUF 180 mln for the asset. The new owner controls HUF 74.5% of the firm and has pledged HUF 500 mln in fresh capital. Najari said the main driver behind buying the ailing company was the Zsolnay brand, which is widely recognized internationally and holds ample potential.
DOMESTIC STATE AUDITOR FINDS TRANSGRESSIONS IN MNB DEALINGS WITH IMF The state auditor ÁSz has published new criticism in a report on the operation of the National Bank of Hungary (MNB), claiming the central bank violated the limitations of its jurisdictional scope and released confidential material to the International Monetary Fund. The ÁSz report states that the MNB gave the fund confidential business information regarding the operation of commercial banks in Hungary from 2008. ÁSz also identified smaller mishaps in the data management practices of the bank. Imre Puskás of the governing Fidesz party held a press conference where he criticized the bank, claiming it had acted against the interests of Hungary and only compounded the country’s vulnerability at the height of the Lehman Brothers crisis by strengthening the IMF’s positions during loan talks by giving out the information. He added that Fidesz would summon a committee hearing in parliament where the central bank
will be called on to answer for its actions. The central bank issued a statement in which it fully rejected the accusations released by ÁSz stating that it’s operation was fully legitimate. The bank gives a point-by-point rebuttal to the ÁSz report, claiming that the findings are skewed and produce the perception of irregularities where there are none to be found.
HUNGARIAN PARLIAMENT PASSES NEW CIVIL CODE Hungary’s Parliament approved a new Civil Code on February 11 that incorporates provisions on the rights and responsibilities of companies. The code raises the minimum capital requirement for limited liability companies (Kft) from HUF 500,000 to HUF 3 mln (€10,300), the same level as before 2007. The new code was approved with 245 ayes, 43 nays and 35 abstentions. The Civil Code it replaces has been amended more than 100 times since it was introduced in 1957.
HUNGARIANS WOULD NOT RUSH EURO ZONE PARTICIPATION About 58% of Hungarians believe the country should wait until after 2018, when the next government cycle ends, to begin preparations to join the euro zone, news agency MTI reported citing a survey by Századvég Foundation. About 56% of those who said the preparations should start after 2018 believe the introduction will require austerity measures and 16% think prices will rise as a result. The survey showed 27% of Hungarians think preparations to adopt the single currency should start during the next government cycle, in 2014-2018. About 15% of those surveyed said they did not know or declined to answer. The survey of 500 adults was conducted at the end of January. ■