Hungarian energy group MOL is hiking the price of motor fuels further as of Wednesday, with the wholesale price of gasoline to rise by HUF 5 and that of diesel by HUF 6 per liter. The increase takes local prices to new all-time highs.

Some 53 percent of Hungarians spent less on Christmas preparations this year than last year and only 7 percent said they had spent a significant amount, a survey by Nezopont Institute released on Wednesday shows.

Recent downgrade of Hungary by the international credit rating agency Moody's is completely unjustified, Foreign Minister János Martonyi told the BBC on Wednesday. Moody's downgraded Hungary on Monday to just a notch above junk status.

In July this year, the European Union saw the start of the second half of its current seven-year budgetary period (2007-2013). Overall, Hungary has access to about HUF 4,000 billion (EUR 14.4 bn) left until 2013.

The European Commission projects Hungary's economy will expand by 2.8 % in 2011, unchanged from its projection in the spring. The Commission forecasts that Hungary will meet the 3.8 % public finance deficit target for 2010 but will overshoot the respective targets for 2011 and 2012.

The Monetary Council of the National Bank of Hungary increased the prime interestó rate by 25 basis points to 5.5 percent on Monday with effect from November 30. The base rate had stood at 5.25 percent since April 27.

The government adopted a package of bills designed to force people to switch from a private to a state-managed pension scheme. Those not willing to switch will lose the considerable amount of state pension they are now entitled to.

The first and foremost task of the British Chamber of Commerce in Hungary is to help its 180 members conduct business with good services and events. Also the Chamber is to represent British business values in Hungary.

Hungary's independent Fiscal Council says the 2011 budget draft submitted to Parliament does not show in sufficient detail how the government arrived at the main budget figures from its macroeconomic assumptions, significantly restricting transparency

Hungary's budget revenue is expected to increase by HUF 1,000 bn (EUR 3.64 bn) annually in the 2013-2015 period as a result of the government's measures to boost jobs and cut state spending, Economy Minister György Matolcsy said on Friday.

The Russian owners of Hungarian airlines Malév will be offered a stake in a Hungarian gas storage facility in exchange for their shares, the Hungarian business daily Napi Gazdasag reported on Friday quoting unnamed sources.

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.