The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) established its Hungarian office in 1992 with the purpose of further developing economic exchanges with Hungary. Diplomacy & Trade has recently published this article on this organization.

The volume of Hungary’s retail sales declined by 0.4% month on month in September, which marks the continuation of this year’s forlorn trend. The sector suffered the biggest contraction of the past two and a half years in the third quarter.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) has downgraded Hungary from BB+ to BB, while keeping stable outlook for the country's debt. The Hungarian currency started to weaken but the Hungary dismissed the downgrading as a “hollow measure”.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Commission will wait for the approval of the 2013 budget and then there could be further development in the current negotiating stage, Hungary’s chief aid negotiator Mihály Varga said this Tuesday.

A recent issue of Diplomacy & Trade has run a piece on the Japanese organization SHOKOKAI in its Japanese country focus section. The organization is exchanging information that can be useful for the management of the Japanese companies present in Hungary.

The President of the Hungary-Japan Economic Club, Sándor Kiss, has been involved in bilateral relations for three decades. In the Japanese Focusof the a recent issue of Diplomacy & Trade, he talked about the past and present of these relations.

In agreement with the analyst consensus, the government appointed rate-setters of National Bank of Hungary continued the easing cycle with another 25 basis point rate cut this week, lowering the benchmark interest rate to 6.25%.

Hungarian economics minister György Matolcsy announced a new set of measures to keep the budget deficit on track as the European Union has signalled to them that the first package is not sufficient to fill the hole in the 2013 budget.

The sovereign debt crisis in Europe is having a negative impact on even non-eurozone countries like Hungary, but that does not diminish the need for Budapest to introduce the euro, Hungarian National Bank Governor András Simor said in Tokyo on Sunday.

Without austerity measures, Hungary will overshoot budget deficit goal in 2013 and the annual inflation rate is likely to climb to 5% from 3.4%. That is the projection by the National Bank of Hungary in its quarterly Report on Inflation.

The Embassy of Sweden, the Swedish Trade Council and leading Swedish companies are organizing a Swedish-Hungarian Innovation Forum on October 4, 2012. The key note address will be held by Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt.

At its meeting on 28 August, the Monetary Council reviewed the latest economic and financial developments and voted to reduce the central bank base rate by 25 basis points from 7.00% to 6.75%, with effect from 29 August 2012.

The German Business Club in Budapest (Deutscher Wirtschaftsclub – DWC) has been – for twenty years now – active in the Hungarian-German Business community and plays an important role in the field of networking.

Putting off accession to the euro-zone could harm the Hungarian economy, European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn responded to a question by Edit Herczog, a Hungarian member of the European Parliament.

A delegation by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, which held talks on precautionary financial assistance to Hungary in the past eight days, will return to Budapest in September, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has stated.