Hungary’s international reserves stood at €37.6 billion at the end of May 2011, rising €1.5 billion from a month earlier to a new all-time high, preliminary National Bank of Hungary (MNB) figures published on Tuesday show.
The reserves were boosted by an €1 billion bond due in January 2019 issued on May 11. The foreign issues of the government in the first five months, including the issue of a combined $4.25 billion in ten- and 30-year bonds in March and April, raised the reserves by a combined €4 billion.
The reserves at the end of May were up just less than €4 billion from the end of December and were up €2.8 billion from the end of May 2010.
With the May euro bond Hungary’s government debt manager ÁKK has completed this year’s issue plan which was aimed to refinance this year’s foreign currency expiries, including two bonds of €1 billion each, due late June and late October, and €2 billion in the first repayment on Hungary’s late 2008 IMF-led international loan package in November.
Before rising to new peaks in each of the past three months, the MNB’s international reserves peaked at €35.3 billion at the end of August 2010, than dropped more than €1.9 billion at the end of October, partly due to the redemption of a €1 billion foreign bond in September.
The reserves fluctuated between €33.4-33.8 billion between last October and February this year before the bond issues boosted them to nearly €35.7 billion at the end of March.
In dollar terms, Hungary’s international reserves rose $549 million in May to reach $54.220 billion at the end of the month. Dollar-term reserves at the end of May were $9.2 billion higher than at the end of 2010 and were up $11.3 billion in one year.
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