Hungarian Currency Lost Over 8% of its Value in 2022

The Hungarian forint (HUF) has moved within a wide range this year, with a gap of around HUF 80 between the strongest and weakest levels against the euro: gaining momentum from the HUF 370 level at the beginning of the year to move close to HUF 350, while in October the common European currency was worth more than HUF 434.

The euro was quoted at HUF 398.325 at 7pm this Friday, the last trading day of the year, 0.29% weaker than the previous day. Over a year, the euro has gained 8.14%. The forint strengthened even more against the US dollar, which was worth HUF 372.10 on Friday evening. The Swiss franc fell by 0.58% to HUF 403.464 on the last working day of the year.

As for the major factors in 2022, the Russian aggression against Ukraine has negatively affected all currencies in the region, but the forint has lost more value than the others.

This was compounded late spring by the European Commission's iron-fisted launch of the rule of law mechanism against Hungary, which has frozen access to a significant part of EU funds. In total, the Hungarian government has to meet 27 conditions to ensure the rule of law and fight corruption.

Looking longer term, the Hungarian currency has lost more than 50% of its value since Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party came to power in 2010.