Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s cabinet chief Gergely Gulyás said the government had no exchange rate target when asked about the forint’s slide, international news wire Reuters reported.

Downside inflation risks have strengthened, the rate-setting Monetary Council of the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) said at its monthly policy meeting in August, the minutes from the meeting released Wednesday show, as cited by state news agency MTI.

In July 2019, the number of guest nights spent by tourists in Hungary fell by 3.2% year-on-year to some 4.4 million, while sales revenues of commercial accommodation grew by 4.7%. Nights spent by both domestic and international tourists fell, according to the latest data from the Central Statistical Office (KSH).

Dead pigs found in some backyard farms in the Philippines have tested positive for African swine fever, the country’s agriculture chief said, the first outbreak of the virus detected in the world’s 10th largest pork consumer, international news wire Reuters reported.

Consumer prices were 3.1% higher on average in August 2019 than a year earlier, down from 3.3% year-on-year in July, show monthly data from the Central Statistical Office (KSH). Significant price rises were measured for alcoholic drinks and tobacco, as well as food.

Intensified inflation and increasing input costs are putting extra burdens on milk producers, economic news site napi.hu reports.

Hungaryʼs cash flow-based general government, excluding local councils, ran a HUF 510.8 billion deficit at the end of August, reaching 51.2% of the HUF 998.4 bln full-year target, the Ministry of Finance said in a preliminary release on Monday, state news wire MTI reported.

Hungary should further develop its growth model in order to remain on a sustainable path of catching up with more established EU states in the long term, at a time when "the change in the global economic climate" requires new responses, György Matolcsy, governor of the National Bank of Hungary (MNB), said at an annual meeting of Hungarian economists.

The legal form of cooperative was introduced in Hungary in 2017 to keep retired people economically active and fill shortages in the labor market. It allows members to receive income from work alongside their old-age pension, and also benefit from preferential taxation.

Hungary had a EUR 276 million trade surplus in July, up just EUR 19 mln from the same month a year earlier, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said in a first reading of data on the external trade in goods on Friday. Both exports and imports rose 7.6% year-on-year.

The international reserves of the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) stood at EUR 28.762 billion at the end of August, up EUR 1.666 bln from the end of the previous month, preliminary data released today (Friday) shows, state news wire MTI reports.

In July 2019, the volume of industrial output grew by 12% year-on-year, the highest rate in more than two years, with production rising by 8.7% based on working day-adjusted data, according to a first reading of data by the Central Statistical Office (KSH).

Hungarian vintners will harvest nearly 500 million kg of grapes this year, from which they expect nearly 300 million liters of wine, penzcentrum.hu reports citing the secretary-general of the national council of wine producers (HNT).

Retail sales in Hungary climbed 6.9% in July from the same month a year earlier, accelerating from a 4.3% rise in June, data released by the Central Statistical Office (KSH) on Wednesday show.

Announcing a new investment by German discount supermarket chain Aldi, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said the future success of the Hungarian economy will be determined by where companies dictating the tempo of the global economy develop, introduce and begin applying their innovations.

Hungaryʼs June trade surplus was revised down to EUR 488 million in a second reading of data released by the Central Statistical Office (KSH) on Tuesday. In the first reading, on August 8, the KSH had put the June surplus at EUR 556 mln.   

The Hungarian Association of Vehicle Importers (MGE) says that new car registrations in Hungary this August increased 21% from a year earlier to 15,618, according to automotive industry website autopro.hu. In January-August, new car registrations were up 10% year-on-year at 105,451.

Prices for domestic sales were up 2.8%, while export prices inched down 0.9%, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Monday. The development of prices was influenced by changes in raw material and world market prices and by wage growth.

Hungaryʼs seasonally adjusted Purchasing Managersʼ Index (PMI) rose to 52.6 points in August, from 51.2 in July, the Hungarian Association of Logistics, Purchasing and Inventory Management (Halpim), which compiles the index, said on Monday.

Hungary’s forint set an all-time low against the euro last week due to fears of a global recession, a trade war and a no-deal Brexit, but government bond yields were close to historic lows thanks to a solid economy at home, international news agency Reuters reported.