Magazine: Wrinkles being smoothed out

In the last few years a couple of wrinkles were smoothed out in the Hungarian market. One euro now ‘only’ costs 305.71 forints and the BUX index was at 17,990 points at some point in time. At the end of March the Central Bank of Hungary (MNB) lowered the base rate once again. Hungary’s Central Statistical Office (KSH) measured more favourable retail data than expected. At a conference the Fed’s president spoke in favour of monetary stimulus – great news indeed! Thanks to better-than-expected inflation data, ECB may also launch a stimulus programme in the euro area, where the level of unemployment reduced from 12 percent to 11.9 percent in February. In Hungary the big questions remain: How much more will MNB cut the base rate? If a negative situation occurs in the financial market, how will the forint’s exchange rate react?