The Government Debt Management Agency (ÁKK) sold a combined HUF 50 billion of bonds at auction on Thursday, raising its original offer on strong demand by HUF 5 bln for the five-year term and by HUF 5 bln for the ten-year term, state news wire MTI reported.

Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air today announced the expansion of its Budapest capacity with the addition of two new aircraft, two new routes and increasing frequency on 13 services, according to a press release sent to the Budapest Business Journal.

State-owned student loan provider Diákhitel Központ has announced it will be lowering interest rates on its loans in the second half of the year, according to Hungarian news agency MTI.

Electric light source manufacturer EGLO Magyarország inaugurated a 14,000 square-meter production hall and a 5,600 sqm automated warehouse in Pásztó, northern Hungary, on Wednesday, completed via an investment of HUF 4 billion, state news wire MTI reported.   

Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó and Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti, his Angolan counterpart, discussed economic cooperation possibilities at talks in Budapest on Wednesday, state news agency MTI reported.

Hungaryʼs net external financing capacity - the combined surplus of the current and capital accounts - came to EUR 6.23 billion last year, down from EUR 8.84 bln in 2015, a second reading of 2016 figures published by the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) shows, according to Hungarian news agency MTI.

Hungaryʼs cash flow-based general government, excluding local councils, ran a HUF 213.4 billion deficit at the end of May, the Ministry for National Economy said today, confirming preliminary data, Hungarian news agency MTI reported. The deficit thus reached 18.3% of the HUF 1.1664 trillion full-year target.

The Government Debt Management Agency (ÁKK) bought back a combined HUF 109.57 billion of bonds expiring in 2018 and 2019 before maturity at a reverse auction today, Hungarian news agency MTI reported.

German engineering giant Siemens laid the cornerstone of a HUF 10 billion turbine blade plant it is building at the manufacturing base of Siemens Power and Gas in Budapest on Tuesday, according to state news wire MTI. 

State-owned Qatari flag carrier Qatar Airways has been named Airline of the Year at the prestigious 2017 Skytrax World Airline Awards at the Paris Air Show, according to a press release sent to the Budapest Business Journal.

Adjusted for seasonal effects, Hungaryʼs net external financing capacity - the combined surplus of the current and capital accounts - was EUR 1.352 billion or 5% of quarterly GDP in the first quarter, preliminary balance of payment data published today by the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) show, according to state news agency MTI.

Hungary and Croatia signed a declaration of intent Tuesday to enable reverse gas flows between the two countries, Hungarian news agency MTI reported. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó called the document strategically important, arguing that it was crucial for Hungaryʼs energy security to have access to gas from the south as well.

Along with a 2.5% rise in consumer prices compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, real earnings in Hungary increased by 9.2% in the January-April period, according to a first release of data by the Central Statistical Office (KSH) this morning.

The Number 3 internal medicine department of Jahn Ferenc Hospital has been closed as operations cannot be sustained anymore due to the excessive number of nursing staff quitting their jobs for better wages at the nearby IKEA store, according to Hungarian commercial news channel HírTV. 

György Wáberer, the founder and former CEO of Hungarian logistics and haulage firm Waberer’s, Tuesday announced he would revoke the right to use the company’s brand name as of the summer of 2018 with the expiry of the related contract, according to a press statement sent to the Budapest Business Journal.

The Monetary Council of the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) set a HUF 300 billion limit on the stock of three-month deposits, the central bankʼs main sterilization instrument, for the end of the third quarter at a policy meeting Tuesday. The council also decided to keep its key rate on hold at 0.90%, as expected.

The National Bank of Hungary (MNB) lowered its inflation forecast for 2017 to 2.4% in its quarterly Inflation Report released on Tuesday, down from 2.6% in the previous report published in March, Hungarian news agency MTI reported.

With a tie at the top of the standings, anticipation in the Red Bull Air Race’s traditional venue of Budapest appears to be peaking ahead of the arrival of the acrobatic planes in Hungary on July 1-2, according to a press release sent to the Budapest Business Journal.

Poland handed over the presidency of the Visegrád Four (V4) to Hungary, which will hold it from July until next June, in Warsaw’s Royal Castle on Tuesday afternoon after a summit of prime ministers of the Visegrád countries - Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic - and the Benelux states.

The time has come for extending cooperation between China and the East-Central European region not only in the financial sector and industry, but also in healthcare, for which Hungary is ready to become the engine, Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén said on Monday, according to Hungarian government website kormany.hu.