Hungary in Austria | Hungarians in Vienna | Bilateral Relations

Austria and Hungary - Read the latest headlines about bilateral relations in the areas of economy, business, investment, diplomacy, culture and tourism

IMF: New Central and Eastern European Constituency

Austria, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Kosovo, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Turkey have established a Central and Eastern European Constituency at the International Monetary Fund.

July 11, 2012

Immofinanz: Substantial Success in Hungary

The Szépvölgyi Business Park in Budapest, an Immofinanz Group office property, will soon become the corporate headquarters for a further international company.

July 11, 2012

Performance of Austrian Banks Remarkably Down

Austria seems to be significantly „overbanked“: Austrian banks only achieve a 0.1% yield on the capital employed.

July 9, 2012

Hungary Plans to Boost Economy

With a € 1.0bn programme, the Hungarian government aims to create more jobs and stimulate consumption.

July 9, 2012

Purchasing Power in CEE Region: Czech Republic Ranks First

Among Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, Bratislava records the biggest regional purchasing power. In total, the Czech Republic ranks first.

July 7, 2012

Hungary: Negotiations on IMF Loan to be Concluded in Autumn

Since January, the Hungarian government tries to secure a € 15bn loan by IMF and the European Central Bank. A final solution may be found in the next months.

July 7, 2012

Austria Remains One of the Biggest CESEE Investors

Austria is still an important net investor in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. However, the global importance of the region did not increase.

July 6, 2012

CEE Defies Turbulences in the Eurozone

GDP in CEE expected to grow 2.6 per cent in 2012 – eurozone expected to shrink by 0.3 per cent. Growth forecast for Austria’s GDP at 0.7 per cent in 2012

July 5, 2012

Czech Republic: OMV Withdraws, MOL Expands

The Hungarian oil and gas group purchased 124 petrol stations in the Czech Republic. The Austrian OMV continues its downsizing strategy.

July 4, 2012

CESEE: Poland and Turkey are Hot Spots

Erste Economic Sentiment Indicator CEE: stock market expectations weaker, but still ahead of Eurozone. Turkey and Poland remain the preferred investment regions.

July 4, 2012

Volksbanken Sector to Become Merged

After months of negotiations, the merger between VBAG and the 52 Volksbanken is resolved. The merger was the prerequisite for getting bank aids.

June 30, 2012

Hungary: Financial Transaction Tax to be Extended

The Hungarian government plans a growth stimulus program, which should be funded with the extension of the current financial transaction tax.

June 30, 2012

Uniqa Completes Sale of Mannheimer Group

The Austrian insurance group Uniqa completed the sale of the Frankfurt listed company Mannheimer AG Holding to Continentale Versicherungsverbund. Growth in CESEE countries should be strengthened.

June 29, 2012

Credit Crunch in CESEE?

Anglo-Saxon banks and funds are most aggressive in deleveraging; Austrian bank are not relying on funding from countries in hotspots of deleveraging.

June 27, 2012

Austrian Railways and Hungarian MAV to Cooperate

ÖBB and MAV are said to plan a common expansion strategy in Southeastern Europe.

June 25, 2012

Nabucco „Not Essential“ for EU

For the EU Commissioner Günther Oettinger, it is not important which pipeline ships natural gas to Europe.

June 22, 2012

CESEE Banks: Small Exposure in Southern Europe

The riskiness of assets held by CESEE banks is manageable, the U.S. rating agency Fitch says. The CESEE region has closer links to Western Europe than to Southern Europe.

June 20, 2012

Major Loss at VBI

The Sberbank-owned Volksbank International (VBI) recorded a net loss of € 95.5m last year.

June 15, 2012

CEESEG: Harsh Environment Depresses Earnings for 2011

CEE Stock Exchange Group reports a massive cut in earnings, which is mainly due to impairment losses of Budapest Stock Exchange.

June 15, 2012

Leitl Underlines Good Relations with Hungary

At the visit of Hungary´s Viktor Orban, the President of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce (WKO) stresses the long-term commitment of Austrian enterprises in Hungary and claims legal security in return.

June 14, 2012

Raiffeisen Sector Won Market Shares Last Year

The Austrian Raiffeisen banking group could increase ist market share in lending and deposits.

June 14, 2012

New Equities at Budapest Stock Exchange

The 23 largest and most liquid European equities from 6 countries and 15 various industries will be available in forints via Hungarian exchange members.

June 13, 2012

Orban Defends Hungarian Economic Policy

The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met Austrian policymakers in Vienna. The Hungarian bank tax should be replaced by a financial transaction tax.

June 13, 2012

„There´s no Crisis in Eastern Europe“

Austrian economists and bankers do not comprehend the downgrade by Moody´s. The risk in Eastern Europe would be more differentiated, OeNB´s governor Nowotny said.

June 8, 2012

Downgrade for Austrian Banks

The U.S. rating agency Moody´s downgrades Erste Group, Raiffeisen Bank International and Bank Austria.

June 6, 2012

Substantial Losses at Volksbanken

The main shareholders of Austrian VBAG had to write down € 333m last year.

May 26, 2012

Massive Gap in Purchasing Power

Purchasing Power Parities 2012: Higher travel costs for overseas destinations; Austrians' purchasing power 40–70% above the level in Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary.

May 21, 2012

BCR: Treichl Expects Soon Recovery

Andreas Treichl, CEO of Erste Group, anticipates a soon recovery of the Romanian subsidiary Banka Comerciala Romana.

May 19, 2012

Another Setback for Nabucco

The German RWE considers leaving the natural gas pipeline consortium. Also the Hungarian MOL will exit.

May 16, 2012

Grazer Wechselseitige Posts Profit Decrease

Due to the Hungarian business segment, the Austrian banking and insurance group recorded a decline in net income to € 58m from € 69m.

May 16, 2012

Declining Sales at Ottakringer

The Austrian beer and mineral water producer faces a shrinking market in the first quarter of 2012. Sales fell by 8.9%.

May 16, 2012

Strong Increase in Austrian FDI

Only in 2007, Austrian investors made more investments abroad. Last year, FDI totaled € 22bn.

May 14, 2012

Zsolt Katona is the new CEO of BSE

The Board of Directors of the Budapest Stock Exchange appointed Zsolt Katona to be the new Chief Executive Officer from 15 May 2012.

May 11, 2012

Hungarian Bank Tax May be Abolished

The extraordinary bank tax in Hungary will be halved in 2013 and deleted in 2014, the government said. Austrian banks are relieved.

May 10, 2012

Nabucco: Azerbaijan´s Nassirov Optimistic

Elshad Nassivor, Vice CEO of the Azerbaijani oil and gas group Socar is optimistic to create a connection with Austria´s gas hub in Baumgarten.

May 5, 2012

Improved Business Atmosphere in CESEE Region

According to a survey by OeKB (Oesterreichische Kontrollbank), expectations of investors are beyond the level of January. Austrian exports to the CESEE region may increase.

May 4, 2012

Budapest Stock Exchange´s CEO Resigns

György Mohai ceases his position as chief executive officer of BSE (Budapest Stock Exchange), a member of CEESEG.

May 2, 2012

Drastic Losses at Porr

The third-largest Austrian construction company had to write off projects in Hungary and Romania. Net losses totaled € 72m.

April 30, 2012

OMV: „Nabucco is More Alive than Ever”

Despite the exit of Hungarian MOL, the Austrian oil company underlines the importance of Nabucco. CEO Roiss holds on Nabucco.

April 28, 2012

OMV Plans Downsizing of Nabucco

The Austrian oil and gas group works on a downsized version of the natural gas pipeline project. The original version would become too expensive, analysts say.

April 25, 2012

MOL May Leave Nabucco Project

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that MOL the country’s largest company by market capitalization, is leaving the € 7.9bn ($ 10.4bn) Nabucco natural gas pipeline project.

April 24, 2012

Agrana Aims for Expansion into Balkan Region

The Austrian sugar and starch company Agrana is looking for acquisition targets in the Western Balkans.

April 23, 2012

Bank Burgenland Records Profits in spite of Hungarian Crisis

The Austrian regional bank´s results were impressed by the coerced conversion of foreign currency loans in Hungary.

April 21, 2012

Drastic Cut in Profit at RLB Lower Austria-Vienna

After net income of € 308.6m in 2010, the figure went down by 64.5% last year. Write-offs in Hungary, bank taxes and the lower result at RZB are the main reasons.

April 20, 2012

Goldman Sachs: Too Small Margins at Austrian Banks in CEE

The U.S. investment bank is optimistic that the CEE region recovers in 2013. The write-offs made by Austrian banks were “correct”.

April 16, 2012

Austrian Railways Aims for Expansion in SEE

ÖBB (Austrian Railways) wants to establish a new freight subsidiary operating in Southeastern Europe. In Austria, ÖBB performs better than expected.

April 16, 2012

Strabag to Expand in Danube Region

In order to develop the Danube region of Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine, the Austrian construction group expands its hydraulic engineering business.

April 12, 2012

„Bank Aids Are Lost“

The economist Franz Hahn (WIFO, Austrian Institute of Economic Research) argues that the nationalized banks are not interesting for potential buyers.

April 10, 2012

Oberbank Aims For „Organic Growth“

The Upper-Austrian regional bank continues its growth course and underlines its financial stability and independence.

April 6, 2012

Raiffeisen: Downsizing in Hungary Completed

The Hungarian subsidiary of the Austrian lender Raiffeisen Bank International has no plans for further business downsizing.

April 5, 2012