BUDAPEST--A financial agreement with the International Monetary
Fund and the European Union for Hungary would make government
policy more predictable, though further improvements are needed,
the chief executive and chairman of Hungarian oil and natural-gas
company MOL Nyrt.'s (MGYOY, MOL.BU) said Monday.
"While in a firm there's a need for constant vibration, in the
economy, tranquility and predictability would be essential," Zsolt
Hernadi said on commercial radio Inforadio.
MOL is Hungary's largest company in terms of revenue and has
subsidiaries in almost all the neighboring countries.
"In the past four years, five times as many changes took place
in the regulatory environment in Hungary than in [neighboring]
Slovakia," Mr. Hernadi said.
The Hungarian government, since coming into power in 2010, has
admittedly taken many sudden and heavy-handed measures to help
boost growth and meet strict fiscal-deficit targets. These included
hefty windfall taxes on several sectors that hurt companies'
willingness and ability to make new investments and expand their
operations.
Hungary, a small and open economy, is heavily reliant on
euro-zone growth, as the lion's share of its exports are directed
to the common-currency bloc. The country is set to see recession
this year, although it will still likely manage to keep its budget
deficit under the EU threshold of 3% in both 2012 and 2013.
The IMF, EU and Hungary are currently discussing a financial
package estimated to be valued at around 15 billion euros ($18
billion).
Write to Veronika Gulyas at veronika.gulyas@dowjones.com
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