Word: forints
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...largest budget deficits in the E.U. Since last September, things have grown progressively worse. Not only has Hungary needed the life support of a US $25.1 billion credit line from the International Monetary Fund, its currency has been in free fall. Since the beginning of this year, the Hungarian Forint has slid 19% against the U.S. dollar, and 13% against the Euro. The government now predicts the economy could shrink by 3% this year, a modest estimate compared to the 7.5% drop predicted by some analysts. (See pictures of the global financial crisis...
...Poland's zloty has dropped 29% against the euro in the past six months, the Hungarian forint by 20%, the Romanian Ieu 17% and the Czech koruna 12%. Latvia has now followed Romania in seeing its government bonds labeled as junk by Standard & Poor's rating agency. (Its government was forced to quit two weeks ago). Once lauded as darlings of global capitalism, these countries now warn of social and political unrest if their economies are allowed to collapse. (See pictures of the global financial crisis...
...downturn is playing havoc with Eastern Europe's currencies. Since last summer, the Polish zloty has lost 48% against Europe's common currency the euro, the Hungarian forint 30% and the Czech Krona 23%. That makes euro-denominated debt, which has risen dramatically anyway in the past few years, much harder to pay back. In Poland, foreign currency debt held by households has tripled in three years to 12% of the GDP last year, with some 70% of mortgages taken in foreign currencies. In Hungary, foreign currency loans make up 62% of all household debt, up from 33% three years...
...food has one thing going for it: the price. Thanks to constant devaluation of the Hungarian Forint, the dollar goes a long way here along the Danube. A slice of pizza costs 50 cents; a 0.2-liter bottle of Coke is about 25 cents; hefty hero sandwiches are $1; ice cream--available in dozens of flavors in little carts on every street--is about 20 cents a scoop...
...Everybody told me that is capitalistic. Why is it capitalistic to issue bonds? There are a lot of people with money who do not use it, and there are others who need money. Why not let them change positions?" Fekete's long-range goal is to make the forint largely convertible with Western currencies...