Category: Hungary

Hungary Will Hold Referendum on Refugee Resettlement

Hungary will hold a referendum in September or October over the European Union’s mandatory migrant resettlement quota, according to Reuters. Roughly 160,000 refugees are looking for host nations, and many governments within the EU have accepted the Brussels-based quota, but Hungarian leadership stresses national sovereignty above all else. The travelers in question are comprised of refugees from war-torn countries and migrants seeking better opportunities.

Hungarian Economy Expanded in Fourth Quarter

According to government data, the Hungarian industrial sector propelled the economy forward in the later part of 2015, compensating for lacking output in agriculture and construction, according to Bloomberg Business. The economy also expanded 3.0% annually, with GDP growing 3.2%. The latest data marks Hungary’s eleventh consecutive quarterly growth rate.

Hungary Is Literally Burning Money To Keep Their Citizens Warm

The Hungarian Central Bank is issuing stacks of old currency notes to its impoverished citizens across the country, so as to allow its citizens to burn the notes in order to keep warm during one of Europe’s deadliest cold snaps.

For the past four years, the Hungarian government has been recycling nearly $1 billion worth of unusable notes into briquettes, which are then sent to several charities as a form of heating fuel.

Hungary Placed Under Negative Credit Rating Watch

Two of the big three global credit rating agencies, Fitch Ratings and Standard and Poor’s, placed Hungary’s credit rating on “negative surveillance” over the weekend, citing the risk of contagion from the eurozone and the nation’s increasingly unpredictable policy decisions as the primary factors behind their decision.