The government announced another epidemiological tightening, and then we were able to guess for more than a day what the exact rules would be; the forint exchange rate approached its all-time low; It turned out that HUF 31 billion was taken out of the capital and district coffers by halving the local business tax. This is the weekly economic summary from hvg.hu.

With coronavirus infection rates rising for weeks and the number of people in hospital and on respirators on the rise, the government determined it was time to take action. It was not easy: Gergely Gulyás gave a press conference saying only a brief summary of the plans – he promised a partial blockade of the store and a complete blockade of the school at the time – and then one day it could be deduced from the interviews, Facebook posts and half sentences from politicians instead of the Hungarian Gazette about what our life will be like soon.

Casinos, for example, are closing: this may have been part of the Telex ventilation, crowds there without serious epidemiological security, and then writing about a security guard dying from the corona virus. Tobacco shops, on the other hand, can remain open. The trade association has asked the government to keep several stores open, and health experts have warned that there may be massive misery in stores that may remain open.

The forint exchange rate was affected by the all-time low. We started the week having to give 362 guilders for one euro, but from there the exchange rate gradually weakened. By Friday, it had crossed the 365 mark and even weakened to 367. The forint was the last weaker than last April.

Analysts say the uncertainty in the global mood is causing the weakening, they are also concerned about inflation and interest rates are rising in the US and German bond markets, prompting investors to look safe performance.

In Budapest, 73,970 companies applied through the NAV to be exempt from paying half the local business tax. This means that there will be a total of HUF 31.46 billion less in local business tax revenue at the capital level. This amount is divided in two, Budapest is now falling from 17 billion HUF, while the districts are falling from 14 billion HUF.

Rural municipalities are not in an easy situation either. For example, Székesfehérvár will fall by 2.1 billion HUF, Miskolc is expected to lose 601 million, Budaörs could fall by 1.5 billion guilders and Esztergom will have 150 million guilders less in the city coffers.

Previous shorter, fixed-term strikes were ineffective, so workers at the Continental plant in Makó went on indefinite strike on Tuesday. The company rescinded the 23-year collective agreement last summer as obsolete. Negotiations on the new agreement were held until December, with minor interruptions, but no agreement could be reached.

The work stoppage ended on Friday, after the company’s management offered to restore the previous collective agreement before the end of the year. This was done by company managers with reference to the new epidemiological rules that will take effect next week.

Image of the week: Mol Bubi 2.0 just submitted for testing

4,062 health workers have decided not to sign the contract, according to which they will no longer work as civil servants, but in the legal relations of the health service, announced the National General Directorate of Hospitals. On your reading, this is a success, the number of employees now falling does not exceed the time-proportionate part of the annual fluctuation.

The details also show that 2,543 of the healthcare professionals said no to the new legal relationship and 842 doctors refused to sign the new contract, replacing only 420 of the previously employed in other legal relationships.

As of March 1, the local government of Hódmezővásárhely replaced the state Volánbus, which operated until then, with a local contractor, as Péter Márki-Zay had previously promised free local bus services. However, two days later, the government office sent a decision revoking the licenses of the contracted buses.

Volánbusz’s position is that the contract, which they believe is alive since 2019, has not been terminated, in fact, it would have had no legal basis. According to the government office, the buses in circulation from Monday to Wednesday were vehicles for which no permits were issued, as only four buses received the official permit instead of six, the other two were rented by the private contractor of BKK. Thus, now that the municipality is obliged to appoint the new public service provider, there is no other option, the state-owned Volánbusz Zrt. It stays with its rarest and most expensive flights to the city.

The CSO has released detailed figures on how the 5% drop in GDP turned out in 2020. It is clear not only that last spring’s shutdowns did a lot of damage, but also that the stagnation of the services sector has really dragged the economy deep down. economy.

2021 did not start well either, the Hungarian industry entered a well, the year started with a decline of 2.8 percent, although it managed to grow at least a month earlier. It is true that the only indirect cause of the epidemic here is that the global shortage of chips has forced automakers to reduce their production. And retail sales fell 1.8 percent, showing that many are saving for fear of a prolonged crisis.



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