In September, the improvement of the GKI economic sentiment index adjusted for seasonal effects came to a halt after its significant and nearly continuous rise that had started last May. Both business and consumer expectations decreased slightly.

In the first six months of this year, real wages in Hungary were up by 3.7% year on year. Over the same period, consumer prices increased by 5.7%. According to data released by the Central Statistical Office the number of people employed in Hungary in the first half of 2010 was 2 million 671,000.

Although there are tensions in the Hungarian national budget this year, the undertaken target, 3.8 per cent of GDP, can still be met with strict control. That is according to the analysts of the Fiscal Council of the Republic of Hungary. Their latest report calculates with roughly HUF 70 billion overrun in the budget, but they believe this much can be controlled with consistent fiscal stringency.

A proposal to be put before Hungarian Parliament this fall suggests the establishment of a ‘Hungarian Depository – Hungaricum House’. The institution would have a budget of HUF tens of billions.

With constructive feedback from members, the Netherlands-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce is developing new ideas in order to build a solid platform for future growth.

It takes a significant pro-active and promotional effort to get Dutch companies to paz proper attention for Hungarian market opportunities.

The Israeli official in charge of economic and business relations between Israel and Hungary says the all-time largest volume of bilateral trade between Hungary and Israel, worth USD 514.1 million, was registered in 2008.

According to State Auditing Office (ASz) President Arpad Kovacs (pictured), the civil sphere demands to take part in political affairs, including party financing regulation.

“Basically, all fields highlighted in the program of the Reform Alliance can be found in the then formulating crisis management plan of the government of Gordon Bajnai. However, this is not about how wise the Reform Alliance is, most experts have long been saying these reforms should be done and not just talked about.”