Forint battered by eurozone crisis, says PM spokesman

Prime Ministerial Spokesman Péter Szijjártó said on Wednesday that developments with regard to the euro-zone financial crisis, notably market reaction to Greece's announcement that it would hold a referendum on the zone's new bailout plan, have exercised the primary impact on forint-euro rates.

The forint moved past 307 to the euro Wednesday morning before a moderate firming to above 205 by the afternoon.

Szijjártó said that Hungary should draw two lessons from the current crisis: that it must further reduce its government debt, a significant part of which is denominated in foreign currency, and that "as many families as possible must be rescued from the foreign-currency loan trap".

Szijjártó asserted that Hungary's current economic performance and the government's economic policy decisions do not justify a downgrade of any kind, noting that Hungary is one of two European Union countries whose state debt is declining and that the country's projected 2012 deficit will be among the lowest in the EU.

The prime minister's spokesman remarked that "True economic processes do not play an exclusive role in the decisions of the ratings agencies," noting that "Hungary's economic policy harms the interests of certain financial circles."