The Hungarian central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by 0.50 percentage points to 11.0 percent in what was seen as an attempt to weaken the country's currency
Published:
17 August 2004 y., Tuesday
The central bank's decision, widely expected by analysts, came after the forint strengthened in recent weeks to less than 250 forint per euro.
On Monday, the forint was trading at 247.9 to the euro ahead of the announcement and weakened to 248.7 forint to the euro immediately after the rate cut.
The central bank has identified a range of between 250-260 forints per euro as the most appropriate for Hungary to join the eurozone, which the government has vowed to do in 2010.
A speculative attack in January 2003 saw the forint appreciating rapidly only to lose nearly 10 percent of its value by year-end. Analysts then blamed erratic monetary policies -- including flip-flops in interest rate policies and an intervention in the curreny's trading band -- coupled with a large public deficit for the loss of investor confidence.
The central bank said in a statement Monday domestic factors influencing its rate cut were positive trends in inflation and growth.
Šaltinis:
AFP
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
The European Commission today concluded on the existence of excessive deficits in Cyprus, Denmark and Finland and recommended deadlines for their correction to the Council.
more »
Over 2000 former construction workers in Spain and nearly 600 ex-employees of Irish glass company Waterford Crystal and its suppliers will receive a total of €11 million in aid from the EU Globalisation Adjustment Fund to help with training, business start-ups and job guidance under plans agreed by MEPs and the Council of Ministers.
more »
MEPs on Tuesday decided six top priorities and a number of additional key issues for the upcoming negotiations on the 2011 budget.
more »
The EU-China Science and Technology Week starts today at the heart of World Expo Shanghai.
more »
European Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard and European Investment Bank President Philippe Maystadt agreed on Monday to explore a joint climate finance initiative for developing countries as part of the European Union commitment made at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen last December.
more »
Sustainability, competitiveness and security of energy supply: the three pillars to the foundation of a new EU energy community.
more »
EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and Palestinian Minister of National Economy Hasan Abu-Libdeh today discussed measures to enhance EU-Palestinian bilateral trade relations and to facilitate trade of Palestinian products to EU markets.
more »
Some of the most innovative and exciting transport research projects funded by the EU are being showcased at the Transport Research Arena (TRA) in Brussels this week.
more »
Nowadays we rely heavily on satellite positioning and navigation, but the only available technology is American.
more »
The European Commission will reveal how it aims to revamp its transport networks policy in response to the challenges of the 21st century at a conference dedicated to the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) in Zaragoza on 8 and 9 June.
more »