Finance Minister Mihály Varga has announced that Hungary has issued forex bonds worth a total 4.25 billion dollars.
Minister Varga said on Facebook that offers for the bonds came to over 12 billion dollars, “showing investor confidence in the Hungarian economy remains strong”. He noted Hungary’s year-end state debt ratio fell to 73.5% of GDP at the end of last year from 76.8% at end-2021, while the budget deficit reached 4.9% of GDP, instead of 5.9% expected earlier. Varga also said the ratio of forex debt within Hungary’s state debt would remain under the 30% threshold. “We count on a further reduction in the public debt and a lower deficit this year, too,” the minister said.
The State Debt Management Centre (ÁKK) said it had issued 1.5 billion dollars of five-year bonds, 1.5 billion dollars of ten-year bonds and 1.25 billion dollars of 30-year bonds on Wednesday. The yield on the 5-year bond is 6.27%, 240bps over the benchmark US Treasury yield, while that on the 10-year bond is 6.51%, 280 bps above. The 30-year bond is 7.10%, 325bps above. Part of the proceeds will be used to buy back USD bonds maturing in 2023 and 2024, and the rest will go toward “general financing purposes”.