Is there a solution?
August 11th, 2011While the Swiss Franc hits new highs against the Hungarian Forint, the left wing daily Népszabadság urges the Hungarian government to act to soothe all those Hungarian citizens who have taken out large loans in Swiss Francs. A moderate right wing blogger believes that the government has very little manoeuvring space.
In a front page editorial, Népszabadság urges the Hungarian government at least to utter a few reassuring sentences to all those indebted in Swiss Francs: „But nobody says a word. No government representative – least of all the Prime Minister – stands up to reassure the public.”
The left wing commentator ironically portrays Viktor Orbán with a glass of wine in hand, toasting the “decline of the West” – a reference to the Prime Minister’s speech in Transylvania at the end of July, where he said that „Western welfare states, crippled by debt, are in decline.” His remarks sparked a passionate debate in the Hungarian media. (BudaPost, July 26th and 28th )
There’s practically nothing the Hungarian government can do without spending hundreds of billions of forints to save those indebted in foreign currencies – writes a young conservative blogger on Mandiner. The author, who signs his commentaries as TuRuL_2k2 points out that no funds exist in Hungary’s extremely tight budget to finance such a solution. So there is a good chance that the Hungarian government will stick to the measures implemented last October and this June, which will help the indebted to carry on but will not bring real relief. “There’s actually no solution. The economic storms shaking the United States and Europe toss Hungary hither and thither on the waves, while the government and the central bank have no real instruments against them,”- writes TuRuL_2k2 on Mandiner.