Forint Gains as Europe Strengthens Firewall Against Crisis

The Hungarian forint gained today after European finance ministers agreed to boost the bailout fund, leading to hope that Hungary may be able to resolve its debt problems.

European finance chiefs agreed to bolster the firewall against the debt crisis at today’s meeting in Copenhagen. While they are aiming to help mainly Greece, Ireland and Portugal, the increase of the bailout funds may also be beneficial to Hungary. The country is the most indebted among eastern nations of the European Union and has sought help from the EU and the International Monetary Fund for the second time since 2008.

Adam Keszeg, the analyst at Raiffeisen Bank International AG, wrote:

We are still of the view that all parties want to sign the agreement eventually, and thus expect notably lower yields in the summer to come.

The forint has gained 6.7 percent in the past three months, the biggest advance since the second quarter of 2009. The currency was the second-best performer worldwide in this period after the Polish zloty.

USD/HUF fell from 221.56 to 220.57 and EUR/HUF went down from 294.9600 to 294.4500 as of 19:56 GMT today.

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