The European Union transferred net €1.1 billion to Hungary in the first quarter of 2013, cashflow-based figures in a fresh National Bank of Hungary (MNB) report show.
The net transfers were the largest single factor behind a €1.6 billion rise in the central bank’s international reserves in Q1, followed by the almost €670 million in proceeds from Hungary’s first domestic eurobond, known by its acronym “PEMAK”. The largest single item reducing the reserves in Q1 was the nearly net €350 million the State Treasury paid out on the initiative of ministries and other budget-funded organisations. The Treasury payments did not include debt management-related transactions made by the Government Debt Management Agency (ÁKK). These, excluding the PEMAK bond, raised the international reserves on the whole by about €300 million in Q1.
The figure is the balance of an international bond issue of a combined $3.25 billion in February; two installments, of €607 million apiece, on an IMF loan in January and March; and bond repayments of €1 billion in February and JPY 50 billion in March. In addition to the transactions carried out by ÁKK, the MNB made an SDR 158 million installment of about €182 million on its own IMF loan in March.
Yields on the reserves totalled €30 million in the first quarter. Net inflow from the EU was up from €720 million one year earlier. Net EU transfers to Hungary reached €3.1 billion on a cashflow basis last year. Hungary’s reserves stood at €35.5 billion at the end of March.
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