OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 108, 5 June 1995
HUNGARY'S PRESIDENT TO BE ELECTED IN JUNE. Parliamentary speaker Zoltan
Gal on 3 June said the parliament will elect Hungary's next president
between 19 June and the end of the month. Reuters reported that the
outcome of the election is in little doubt, since the ruling Liberal-
Socialist coalition, which has 72% of the parliamentary mandates, has
endorsed the incumbent, Arpad Goncz, to serve another five-year term.
The vote is viewed as an opportunity for the divided conservative
opposition to present a united front to voters and start regaining the
support it lost in the local and national elections last year. The
conservatives parties have yet to nominate a candidate. Gal was quoted
by MTI as saying the president will be elected in three rounds on
consecutive days or whenever a candidate gains a two-thirds majority. --
Jiri Pehe , Copyright=A91995 Open Media Research Institute, Inc. All
rights reserved.
HUNGARY TO RECEIVE IMF LOAN AFTER ALL? Prime Minister Gyula Horn on 4
June said the austerity package approved by the Hungarian parliament on
31 May has convinced the IMF that Hungary should be granted loans to
help its transition to a market economy. Horn was speaking to Reuters on
the eve of his eight-day visit to the U.S., where he will meet with
President Bill Clinton and IMF Director Michel Camdessus. Horn said a
stand-by loan agreement with the IMF has been agreed in principle and a
three-year lending deal was likely before the end of the year. Hungary,
which is deeply indebted, has sought a long-term agreement with the IMF
that would help Budapest obtain loans both from the fund and possibly
from other lenders on better terms than it can secure now. The IMF froze
a stand-by accord with Hungary in 1992 when it became clear that
Budapest would overshoot its budget deficit target. -- Jiri Pehe,
Copyright=A91995 Open Media Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
GREATER ROMANIA PARTY TO SUE ETHNIC HUNGARIAN PARTY. Corneliu Vadim
Tudor, leader of the extreme nationalist Greater Romania Party,
announced at a press conference on 2 June that his party intends to sue
the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR). Tudor accused the
UDMR of seeking "Romania's territorial amputation." He also demanded
that firm steps be taken against three Bucharest dailies for their
alleged pro-Magyar stance. Tudor further expressed his party's
"stupefaction" over a recent statement by Foreign Minister Teodor
Melescanu suggesting that the Romanian-Hungarian basic treaty include a
reference to Council of Europe Recommendation No. 1201 on ethnic
minorities. Tudor said his party will request a national referendum on
whether Romania should recognize that recommendation. -- Dan Ionescu,
Copyright=A91995 Open Media Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
[As of 12:00 CET]
Compiled by Jan Cleave
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A tovabbterjesztest a New York-i szekhelyu Magyar Emberi Jogok
Alapitvany tamogatja.
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Reposting is supported by Hungarian Human Rights Foundation News
and Information Service.
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Monday, 05 June 1995
Volume 2, Issue 107
REGIONAL NEWS
-------------
**HUNGARIAN ELECTION WON'T GENERATE MUCH EXCITEMENT**
The speaker of the Hungarian parliament, Zoltan Gal said
parliament will elect the country's next president between
June 19 and the end of the month. Gal was quoted by the
official MTI news agency as saying the president will be
elected in three rounds set on consecutive days or whenever a
candidate gains a two-thirds majority. The outcome of the
election is in little doubt as the ruling liberal-Socialist
coalition, which holds 72 percent of the seats in the
legislature, has endorsed incumbent Arpad Goncz for another
five-year term. Some rank-and-file Socialists, however, are
said to be unhappy with party leaders' support for the liberal
Goncz.
BUSINESS NEWS
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**IMF LOAN TO HUNGARY PENDING**
Hungarian Prime Minister Gyula Horn said a stand-by loan
agreement with the International Monetary Fund has been agreed
to in principle and will be signed. Horn also thinks a
three-year lending deal is probable before the end of the year
and said the IMF accord is a direct response to the
government's austerity plan. Hungary's net foreign debt stood
at $20 billion in February and its debt rating is below
investment grade, so it can't borrow from many pension and
investment funds whose rules require them to deal exclusively
in low-risk debt. The IMF froze a standby accord in 1992
after it became clear Budapest would overshoot its budget
deficit target.
**AUDI INCREASES PRODUCTION IN HUNGARY**
Audi plans to nearly triple the production of engines at its
plant in Gyor, Hungary by 1998. Audi Financial Director Erich
Schmitt said his company will increase production from 750
engines per day to 2,000. That should also boost employment
at the Gyor plant from 238 to 680. Schmitt said some work
will be shifted to Gyor from Germany. He admitted that might
strain German-Hungarian labor relations, but insists Hungary's
relatively low wages weren't a major factor behind the move.
"We need it from a strategic point of view to get entry to the
Eastern Euroepan market. The other point, from an economical
point of view, the project is very suitable. If you look to
the quality we are very proud of the quality of the products
we get from here."
Schmitt said Audi will invest an additional $177 million in the
plant. Hungarian officials said that'll bring the total
German investment in Hungary to $3.6 billion equalling
American investment for the first time. --David Fink
**HUNGARIAN TELECOM TENDER AWARDED**
The American firm Motorola has won a $100 million wireless
telephone system tender organized by Hungary's biggest phone
company Matav. Matav will use Motorola's technology to
connect some 200,000 subscribers in areas where traditional
telephone technology isn't economic or feasible within two and
a half years. The U.S. firm beat out Sweden's Ericsson,
Finland's Nokia and Germany's Siemens to win the tender.
BUSINESS FEATURE
----------------
**CONFUSION REIGNS ON EMERGING MARKETS**
By Tom Hoover
Poland was the most active central European market last week,
but like Prague and Budapest, it lost ground. A 4 percent cut
in Polish interest rates and continued political uncertainty
convinced many investors to sell and then wait on the
sidelines. CET spoke with Nick Wergen at Smith New Court in
London who said Warsaw isn't likely to stabilize anytime soon.
Wergen: I think certainly what's fairly classic Polish
volatility will continue. The interest rate cut should have
probably taken the market further up, that didn't really
occur. You could get a boost from the investment grading
given by Moody that puts them above Hungary and below Czech on
a par with Greece and South Africa.
CET: What could bring the buyers back to Warsaw?
Wergen: Whenever you see the index get closer to the 7,000
level you'll see bargain hunting at around that level. It's
like a snowball effect, at some point there is a significant
amount of new money being raised. Add some political
stability, which is what is needed most strongly at the moment
and the market could look quite interesting.
CET: To Prague now. Would some government intervention in
Prague regarding imports and exports help the market?
Wergen: That and a combination of a more focused attempt at
bankruptcies I think is what might be needed to kick the
market. Otherwise perhaps we'll have to wait for the
introduction of the three-tier system on the Prague exchange
in September to improve visibility that way.
CET: Budapest is in the midst of a correction with even highly
capitalized issues like Pick and Richter edging lower. Will
this correction continue or will buyers see an opportunity on
the BSE?
Wergen: I think what you're really seeing is the impact of the
wide-scale privatization; that's what in the short-term is
depressing stock prices. For the long term I think again it's
the privatization issues that will bring renewed attention and
renewed money to the whole of the index.
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A tovabbterjesztest a New York-i szekhelyu Magyar Emberi Jogok
Alapitvany tamogatja.
[*] [*] [*] [*] [*][*] [*][*][*]
[*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*]
[*][*][*] [*][*][*] [*][*] [*][*]
[*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*]
[*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*]
Reposting is supported by Hungarian Human Rights Foundation News
and Information Service.
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|
