Hungary to Jump-Start Post Privatization
A new market-friendly, centre-left government and changes at the top of state agency APV are expected to give fresh impetus to Hungary’s stalled privatisation programme. This, in turn, should bring fresh blood to Budapest’s moribund stock market and put Hungary back on the map for foreign investors who have switched to other countries in the region as they gear up to join the European Union. Miklos Kamaras, newly appointed Managing Director at APV, the body charged with holding state assets, said on Wednesday he was working closely with the new coalition of Socialists and liberal Free Democrats to jumpstart state sell-offs.” Reuters: “The new government, which defeated a conservative alliance in April elections, has promised to help the sluggish market by scrapping a 20 percent capital gains tax next year and signalling plans to sell off parts of state-run utility, postal and railway businesses. ‘The government’s intention is to prioritise sell-offs via the bourse,’ Kamaras said in an interview. Some of the holdings likely to attract interest include electricity supplier MVM, postal monopoly Magyar Posta and its commercial arm Postabank, and national railways MAV.
