From hungary-online-owner Sun Mar 26 16:27:15 1995 Return-Path: owner-Hungary-Online Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id QAA24877 for hungary-online-out31415; Sun, 26 Mar 1995 16:27:15 -0800 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id QAA24866; Sun, 26 Mar 1995 16:26:59 -0800 Received: from tbeke@hix.mit.edu () via =-=-=-=-=-= for hol@hungary.yak.net (24864) Received: from hix.mit.edu (HIX.MIT.EDU [18.74.1.137]) (fnord) by nando (8.6.5/8.6.5) with ESMTP id QAA24861 for ; Sun, 26 Mar 1995 16:26:46 -0800 Received: (from tbeke@localhost) by hix.mit.edu (8.6.9/8.6.9) id TAA15801 for hol@hungary.yak.net; Sun, 26 Mar 1995 19:28:07 -0500 From: Tibor Beke Message-Id: <199503270028.TAA15801@hix.mit.edu> Subject: (HOL) What is Mozaik? To: hol@hungary.yak.net Date: Sun, 26 Mar 1995 19:28:07 -0500 (EST) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23] Content-Type: text Content-Length: 11932 Sender: owner-Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Issue____________: *** MOZAIK 452 *** Date_____________: Sat Mar 25 00:42:04 EST 1995 Publisher________: Hollosi Information eXchange /HIX/ Disclaimer_______: Authors bear full responsibility for their articles. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe________: or Unsubscribe______: or Help_____________: Supervisor_______: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Tartalomjegyzek: ---------------- Felado : buchwald@ufcc.ufl.edu Temakor: CET - 24 March 1995 ( 146 sor ) Felado : buchwald@ufcc.ufl.edu Temakor: VoA - Kelet-Europai piacok ( 96 sor ) ======================================================= Felado : buchwald@ufcc.ufl.edu Temakor: CET - 24 March 1995 ( 146 sor ) Idopont: Fri Mar 24 16:04:45 EST 1995 MOZAIK #452 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Friday, 24 March 1995 Volume 2, Issue 60 BUSINESS NEWS ------------- - **BUDAPEST EASES BUSINESS CURRENCY RULES** The Hungarian government is going to let companies keep hard currency bank accounts beginning next month. Currently, firms doing business in Hungary have to convert their hard currency earnings and business loans into forints, if they want to keep the money in the country. The new rules are part of the short term economic package the government unveiled March 12. They'll enable companies to avoid currency conversion losses. The government plans monthly forint devaluations through the rest of the year. ANALYSIS -------- **HUNGARIANS WORRY ABOUT SOCIAL BENEFIT CUTS** Interview with Gyorgy Kocsis, economics editor of the Hungarian economic weekly HVG. By Duncan Shiels What galvanized the thousands of students who protested Wednesday across Hungary was a government plan to introduce a $16-a-month tuition fee for college students. The fee is one of several austerity measures, which still have to be approved by parliament, aimed at reducing Hungary's soaring budget deficit while stemming the rise in imports and stimulating exports. Among other things, maternity benefits, which used to be automatic, would be based on need. Two Socialist ministers have resigned over the austerity measures, predicting what they called "undesireable passions" in society. Kocsis attaches particular significance to the scrapping of automatic maternity benefits. Kocsis: I think this is the most interesting and the most difficult step in the Hungarian economy since maybe 1990, and I like to say that this is the moment when, or the months when, Socialism has really come to an end in Hungary. So I think the impact of these kind of steps is almost as big as privatization, because it changes a basic sort of agreement in society, an unwritten agreement. CET: But of course is this automatic, I think it's 90 percent of your salary for two years, for which everyone is eligible? Kocsis: 75 per cent of your salary for two years and 7,500 forints one more year, until your child gets three years old. CET: Now that's a very generous allowance, isn't it? Kocsis: Well, compared to the means of the country at least, it is, yes. It has been introduced in 1968 and changed during the times and I think it was really, as you said, a very generous social network, but very unfit to the financial means of the country, especially later. So this is one thing where the big debt, $27 billion of debt, comes from. But it's very difficult to explain to the people. CET: The welfare minister Pal Kovacs and the head of the secret services Bela Katona both resigned saying that it was ill-prepared. Do you agree with them that not enough thought has gone into some of these measures? Kocsis: Yes, I think that some of these measures cannot be really explained. I mean of course you can explain everything that you have to cut the budget deficit and it's the only explanation, but if you give a little more thought to the details, then some parts of this package are very difficult to explain. CET: Coming on to the last one, the student fees. This is perhaps the one that's the most puzzling because the students are having to pay 2,000 forints a month, $16 a month, towards their own tuition. According to Central Statistical Office figures, each student costs 340,000 forints, $2,800 a year to be educated. So the saving involved in this measure seems very small compared to the unrest it's already caused. On Wednesday, we had this demonstration of the students. What's the thinking behind this measure? Because it's not really going to bring in a great deal of money. Kocsis: I think the significance of this is to break a psychological barrier; that somebody is to pay for their studies. Looking at the students' demonstrating, my impression was, my personal impression, especially those in Budapest who went to demonstarte in front of the Financial Ministry, it didn't come from really desperation. It was sort of a fun for the kids. CET: What about the trade unions, then? Will there be unrest elsewhere in society, particularly over these social benefits that are being lost? Kocsis: I don't think so, because the trade unions are very weak, they are fractioned, they have arguments between each other, and also there is this strange situation that the biggest trade union is incorporated into the governing Socialist Party CET: But there will be hardship? Kocsis: Of course. CET: And you just think it will be accepted by the population? Kocsis: Of course, the people don't already feel everything, it's only an announcement, most of it it's announcement, but it's going to come month by month. And also some other steps could be taken which we don't know yet, but otherwise I think Hungarians have learned to accept these hardships. ABOUT CET ON-LINE ----------------- * CET On-Line - copyright (c) 1995 Word Up! Inc. All rights reserved. This publication may be freely forwarded, archived, or otherwise distributed in electronic format only so long as this notice, and all other information contained in this publication is included. For-profit distribution of this publication or the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. For more information, contact the publishers. ***************************************************************** A tovabbterjesztest a New York-i szekhelyu Magyar Emberi Jogok Alapitvany tamogatja. [*] [*] [*] [*] [*][*] [*][*][*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*][*][*] [*][*][*] [*][*] [*][*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] Reposting is supported by Hungarian Human Rights Foundation News and Information Service. *****************************************************************  ======================================================= Felado : buchwald@ufcc.ufl.edu Temakor: VoA - Kelet-Europai piacok ( 96 sor ) Idopont: Fri Mar 24 16:05:35 EST 1995 MOZAIK #452 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - date=3/23/95 type=correspondent report number=2-175943 Title=E. Euro Markets byline=Barry Wood dateline=Prague content= voiced at: Intro: Stock trading in post-communist Europe is a new phenomenon and the fragile exchanges for trading shares in privatized companies are having problems. V-o-A's Barry Wood reports on a capital markets conference in Prague that discussed some of those problems. Text: The biggest problem now afflicting East European stock markets is how to stop a relentless price decline. The markets in Warsaw, Prague and Budapest peaked in February of last year and have been falling ever since. The declines have accelerated since January when the Mexican financial crisis caused big institutional investors to turn cautious about all emerging stock markets. The Warsaw stock market reopened for business in 1991 after a 52 year closure. The Prague exchange, which operated under German occupation throughout World War Two, reopened in 1993. Even though Poland's economy is twice the size of the Czech and Hungarian economies combined, only 50 corporate shares are traded on the Warsaw exchange. Trading volume however is about equal to that of Prague where 14-hundred shares are traded. The Warsaw exchange is given high marks for being honest and well regulated. Marek Wierzbowski is a lawyer who helped set up Warsaw's Independent Agency which regulates the stock market. // Wierzbowski act // Our securities commission assures first of all the transparency of the market. All information (on companies) needed for investors is published and delivered to the public. And penalties for any attempt to hide information are extremely severe. // End act // By contrast, brokers complain about the lack of transparency in the Czech stock market. Companies are not compelled to publish much information. And up to 70 percent of share trading takes place off the exchange, at the securities center where share ownership is registered. The securities center has only recently begun to publish trading information. In the Prague market, banks play a dominant role. Big commercial banks have set up investment funds which are major traders on the market. The funds are major owners of corporations which have large debts to those same commercial banks. Richard Salzmann, the chairman of Prague's largest bank (Komercni), says the banks don't really control the funds. // Salzmann act // You may believe there are secret links between those entities. I will tell you there aren't. You have to trust it or not. So it is arranged that way in this country. On a market, as I mentioned, that is two years old (only). // End act // Mr. Salzmann says this perceived conflict of interest will be resolved as the Prague stock exchange matures. The Czech authorities are attempting to improve securities regulation and make trading fully transparent. (Signed) neb/bdw/mh/cf 23-Mar-95 9:44 am est (1444 utc) nnnn source: Voice of America ***************************************************************** A tovabbterjesztest a New York-i szekhelyu Magyar Emberi Jogok Alapitvany tamogatja. [*] [*] [*] [*] [*][*] [*][*][*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*][*][*] [*][*][*] [*][*] [*][*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] Reposting is supported by Hungarian Human Rights Foundation News and Information Service. *****************************************************************  =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= =* TIPP VITA SZALON FORUM GURU || *= =* HIR KEP MOZAIK RANDI NARANCS || Hollosi Information eXchange /HIX/ *= =* OTTHON MOKA HUNGARY KORNYESZ || *= =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= =* Helpfile: || WWW: http://hix.mit.edu/ *= =* Human touch: || Finger: info@hix.mit.edu *= =* ------------------------------------------------------------------------- *= =* Hollosi Jozsi. /HIX/ (personal mail only: ) *= =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= ############# # This message to Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net # was from Tibor Beke # # To unsubscribe, # send "unsubscribe" to # An announcement-only subscription (less volume) is available # at # Send mail to for more information, # or to if you need human assistance. #############