Hungary had a EUR 375m trade surplus in December and posted a EUR 3.979bn trade surplus in the full year of 2009, the Central Statistics Office said in a second reading published on Thursday. The December figure is unchanged but the full-year surplus is revised down almost EUR 600m from EUR 4.57bn in the first reading. Terms of trade improved in 2009 for the first time since 2002. The volume growth of trade, started in November, picked up, and exports grew again far more rapidly than imports, all from a low base.
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Swiss high-precision drive-system manufacturer Maxon AG will transfer production of whole motors and rotors to the company's Hungarian unit, Maxon Motor Hungary, which has so far been producing spare parts only, the business daily Napi Gazdasag reported on Thursday.
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FB Airport Kft, a member of SCD Group, signed an agreement on Wednesday with the local municipalities of Sarmellek and Zalaver (W Hungary) to lease and operate Balaton Airport for fifty plus fifty years, SCD Group told MTI in a statement on Wednesday.
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Hungarian unit of US-based company Jabil could increase staff by as much as 250 starting may as a result of new contracts, regional daily Vas Nepe has reported recently.
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Hungary's seasonally-adjusted Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) grew 2.1 points to 55.9 in February from January, indicating growth for the second month in a row, the Hungarian Association of Logistics, Purchasing and Inventory Management (Halpim), which publishes the index, said on Monday. The index improved further from January, suggesting that a recovery is getting momentum in the country's manufacturing sector.
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Investment volume in Hungary dropped 11pc year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2009, bringing the full-year decline in 2009 to 8.6pc, figures published by the Central Statistics Office (KSH) show. Sharp declines in the business sector were tempered by investments in the budget-funded sector. The yr/yr drop in Q4, continuing now for the eight quarter in a row, was the steepest in the period.
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Decisions on public procurements worth a combined HUF 1,809.8bn were made in 2009, up 27.6pc from 2008, chairman of the Public Procurement Board Jozsef Bakonyi said at a press conference in Budapest .
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Freight volume in Hungary dropped 10.4pc to 77.2m tonnes in Q4 from the same period a year earlier, bringing the full-year decline to 11.9pc, the Central Statistics Office (KSH) reported. Calculated in freight-tonne-kilometres, performance rose, however, by 4pc in Q4 -- boosted by expanding international performance and also by a low base -- in the first yr/yr rise since Q2 2008.
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Hungary's former central bank governor and finance minister Zsigmond Jarai called for structural reforms and cuts in state spending at an economic forum.
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Revenue from excise tax on palinka -- the Hungarian eau de vie -- distilled on contract by private individuals rose over HUF 8bn in 2009 from HUF 5.72bn in 2008, business daily Napi Gazdasag reported.
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