German-owned Hübner Ltd. will expand its vehicle industry production facility in Nyíregyháza, NE Hungary with an investment of HUF 3.4 billion (some EUR 11 million), quarter of which is provided as subsidy by the Hungarian government.

“It is the Government’s decided goal to reinforce the Hungarian Defence Force, which guarantees Hungary’s security”, the Minister of Defence István Simicskó said at an event to mark the major refurbishment of the army’s fleet of Mi-17 transport helicopters.

Hungary is the latest country to enter the Chinese onshore capital markets, raising Rmb 1 billion in a three-year panda bond, the Financial Times reports.Thus, ut is the first country to have issued both offshore and onshore renminbi-denominated debt.

According to a report by the Hungarian Ministry for National Economy, the volume of retail sales grew dynamically, by 6% year-on-year, in the month of May 2017. Thus, the sector has been expanding for 47 months in a row.

The market for business bank cards in Hungary has grown steadily over the last two years, according to statistical figures published by the National Bank of Hungary. It is while the total market has virtually stagnated according to the number of units.

In order to spread modern electronic payment methods, the government has decided to support the deployment of another 30,000 bank card acceptance points, State Secretary in the Ministry of National Development Ágnes Hornung has announced.

General Electric Hungary has joined the Hungarian government's supplier program that is aimed at increasing the share of Hungarian companies taking part in the development and production of high value added products and services.

In May 2017 and in the initial five months of 2017, the industrial sector posted output growth of 8.8% and 5.7%, respectively, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. Thus, Hungarian data have beaten corresponding EU averages.

Hungary's trade surplus was EUR 913 million in May this year, up 170 million euros from the same month a year earlier. That is according to the latest figures published by the Central Statistical Office and quoted by the Hungarian news agency MTI.

The 3rd Global Forum on Productivity organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development fostering international co-operation between public bodies and promoting productivity-enhancing policies has opened in Budapest.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Hungarian authorities have agreed to set up a working group to analyse the impact on the banking sector of the recent amendment of the Judicial Enforcement Act.

The Hungarian Development Center (MFK) has signed a representative partnership agreement with the Spanish project development company Inspiralia in the Spanish capital, Madrid in order to cooperate in European Union tenders.

After November, the GKI economic sentiment index rose again in December. According to
the empirical survey by GKI, business expectations increased slightly, whereas consumer ones went up more strongly, reaching their ten-year peak.

The Swedish Ambassador to Hungary, Niclas Trouvé, presented the publication ‘Sweden Hungary Business Guide’ promoting the Hungarian investment environment. The event took place on Lucia’s Day, which is considered the brightest Swedish holiday.

The volume of investments in Hungary contracted by 9.3% y/y in the third quarter of 2016. This decrease, portfolio.hu notes should not be considered as dramatic, though, given that investments grew by 2.7% over the previous quarter.