Risks can be reduced

According to a presentation by Éva Palócz, general director of KOPINT-TÁRKI Konjunktrúrakutató Zrt. held at the conference organised by Coface Hungary in Göd, on 11. October, a large part of Hungarian enterprises see the present economic situation as worse compared to earlier years. She also pointed out that most macro economic indicators have been deteriorating continuously since 2000. The absence of a stable, domestic supply background behind the multinational companies in Hungary is also a problem. Hungarian suppliers are not willing to act collectively, but are also unable to produce the required quantities individually. Mikael C. Szabó, country director of Coface Hungary believes that the biggest problem with the Hungarian economy is the disproportionately large number of enterprises. While only 0.4 per cent of the 1.2 million enterprises produce two-thirds of the GDP, most of the others are micro-size enterprises which have neither sufficient capital or the willingness to co-operate in order to facilitate growth. István Ágoston, managing director of UniCredit Bank Hungary Zrt. spoke about the tools which can be used to reduce interest and exchange risks. According to analysts, foreign exchange related financial risks which are largely unpredictable will have to be managed until 2013 at least. Ferenc Bíró, director of Ernst&Young pointed out some possibilities for risk management. According to an international survey, companies endure losses as a result of fraud amounting to 5 per cent of their revenues on average. László Bek-Balla, HR director of ING bank, spoke about risk management strategies in HR, while Lajos Antal, director of IT Security Consulting, PricewaterhouseCoopers, discussed efficient IT risk management.