FX Share of State Debt Rises to 26.9% in 2023
The ratio of foreign currency-denominated debt within Hungary's total state debt reached 26.9% at the end of 2023, up from 25% a year earlier, state news wire MTI reports, citing detailed budget data released on Monday.
In absolute terms, the FX debt of the central government rose by HUF 2.281 tln to about HUF 13.678 tln.
The increase was mainly due to FX bond issuance, including a USD 1.5 bln five-year bond, a USD 1.5 bln 10-year bond, and a USD 1.25 bln 30-year bond in January; USD 450 mln of tap issues in March; a EUR 1.75 bln 10-year bond in September; and a USD 500 mln tap issue in November. A part of the January issuance was used to repurchase two USD bonds maturing in 2023 and 2024 at a face value of USD 1 bln, together with the closing of the related swaps.
FX securities issued under the Euro Commercial Paper (ECP) program amounted to USD 500 mln at the end of December, and Hungary drew down EUR 779.5 mln of a Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) loan at year-end.
The stronger forint reduced the share of FX debt.
The share of foreign-denominated debt fell to 72.5% from 74.1%, while increasing in absolute terms by HUF 3.112 tln to HUF 36.888 tln.
The stock of retail securities increased by HUF 1.458 tln to HUF 10.077 tln. Non-resident holdings of forint government securities decreased by HUF 1.146 tln to HUF 5.874 tln.
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