By Leos Rousek
TODAY'S CALENDAR
Local/GMT
1000/0900 Hungary economy ministry report on 2013 budget
1100/1000 Hungary National Asset Management
Company report on 2013 activity
N/A Investigation into death of
Palestine envoy to Prague
The investigation into the death of the Palestinian envoy to
Prague on New Year's Day and briefings by Hungarian officials on
last year's budget will be in focus Friday.
On Thursday, investigators found unregistered weapons in the
home of Jamal al-Jamal, the 56-year-old Palestinian ambassador to
the Czech Republic, who died Wednesday after sustaining serious
injuries when manipulating an office safe deposit box. Local police
described the incident as an accident.
The incident, which occurred in the newly built embassy compound
of the Palestinian Authority in Prague, stirred memories of
mysterious assassinations of Palestinian Liberation Organization
figures in Europe, linked to the Israeli spy agency Mossad in the
decades before the Israel-PLO peace accord in 1993.
Palestinian security and foreign ministry officials are
gathering in the Czech Republic to follow up on the local
investigation of the incident, the Czech foreign ministry said.
In Budapest, Economy Minister Mihaly Varga will hold a briefing
about the preliminary data on the country's fiscal budget balance
in 2013. The overall 2013 budget deficit could total 2.7% to 2.8%
of gross domestic product, meeting the government's expectations
and coming bellow the European Union's 3% threshold, Mr. Varga said
in November.
Last year, Hungary exited from the EU's strict budget oversight
known as Excessive Deficit Procedure. Hungary was in the bloc's
quarantine for countries with wide budget gaps since joining the EU
in 2004.
The Central European country is set maintain its budget gap
below 3% of GDP in 2014, Mr. Varga said in an interview with the
Hungarian state news agency MTI Thursday.
Also in Budapest, officials of the National Asset Management
Company will release a report on the agency's activities last year.
The agency holds government-owned stakes in various Hungarian
corporations, including oil and gas company MOL Nyrt. (MOL.BU).
FOREX
Latest 0250 GMT 27.475-545
Previous 2150 GMT 27.486-538
%Chg -0.01
EUR/HUF
Latest 0250 GMT 297.51-96
Previous 2150 GMT 297.49-08
% Chg -0.03
EUR/PLN
Latest 0250 GMT 4.1631-716
Previous 2150 GMT 4.1649-724
% Chg -0.03
FIXED INCOME
Hungary
Thu Tue
3 yrs 4.02% N/A
5 yrs 4.70% N/A
10yrs 5.64 N/A
Poland
Thu Tue
3 yrs 3.02% 3.01%
5 yrs 3.68% 3.59%
10yrs 4.41% 4.33%
Czech Republic
Thu Tue
3 yrs 0.32% 0.33%
5 yrs 1.00% 1.01%
10yrs 2.51% 2.51%(1)
(1) 11 yrs
STOCKS
WIG 20
2,430.72+29.74+1.24
BUX
18,552.40-11.68-0.06%
PX
993.85+4.81+0.49%
OTHER NEWS
CEE: Manufacturing sectors continued to expand in three largest
Central European economies in December but at a slightly slower
pace, driven by solid demand for local manufactured goods in the
region's key euro-zone export markets.
Purchasing managers' index data, a broad indicator of economic
health, released Thursday showed that manufacturing grew last month
in the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. The easing of PMI
expansion rates from levels reached in November in all countries
indicate a slowing pace of economic recovery.
CZECH REPUBLIC: The Czech fiscal budget deficit in 2012 narrowed
more than expected as the government cut spending and benefited
from low borrowing costs, offsetting the impact of a shrinking
economy on tax revenue, preliminary data released by the finance
ministry showed Thursday.
The country's fiscal gap last year was 80.9 billion koruna ($4.4
billion), down 19.9% from CZK101 billion in 2012 and below the
ministry's earlier estimates of a CZK100 billion budget gap, the
ministry said in a statement.
HUNGARY: Hungary's Government Debt Management Agency will offer
50 billion Hungarian forints ($230.8 million) of three-month
treasury bills at its weekly auction on Jan. 7, it said
Thursday.
--Margit Feher in Budapest contributed to this article.
Write to Leos Rousek at leos.rousek@wsj.com
Go to http://blogs.wsj.com/emergingeurope for the new WSJ and
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