date=3/24/95
type=correspondent report
number=2-175997
title=Euro Money (l only)
byline=Barry Wood
dateline=Prague
content=
voiced at:

Intro:  The monetary turmoil that has afflicted western financial
markets recently is being felt as well in Eastern Europe.
V-o-A's Barry Wood reports Hungarians are fearful that the
government may ban the use of popular foreign currency bank
accounts.

Text:  In Budapest this week, bank customers were lining up to
withdraw marks and dollars from foreign currency accounts. There
were rumors that the financially hard pressed government would
ban such accounts.

The accounts are popular as a means of avoiding the effects of a
declining local currency.  The forint is regularly devalued in
line with high Hungarian inflation.  This month the forint was
devalued by eight percent.

The government vigorously denies that it will ban foreign
currency accounts.  It says monetary reserves are adequate to
meet all contingencies including regular payments on foreign
debt.

In the Czech Republic the government has been struggling with a
problem of a different kind.  The Czech crown is linked in a
fixed relationship to the German mark and U-S dollar.  The link
is weighted two thirds in favor of the mark.  That means that the
Czech crown has been steadily rising against the dollar and is
now 12 percent higher than it was 12 months ago.

Because external payments are in surplus and there is  no  budget
deficit there have been suggestions that the Czechs should
revalue their currency against the mark.  Richard Salzmann, the
chairman of the Czech Republic's largest commercial bank, says
this move is being opposed by the government and central bank.

                        //Salzmann act//

         The revaluation (increasing the crown's value) is  not
         on the program of the national bank.  The national bank
         has now decided to hold a fixed exchange rate for a
         period that is  not  yet defined.

                           //End act//

Some Czechs think that since the currency peg will  not  be
changed, the crown will rise further against the dollar.  A
dollar currently trades for just over 25 crowns compared to
nearly 30 crowns a year ago.  The Czech and Slovak crowns are the
only East European currencies that have been gaining in value
against the dollar.  (Signed)

neb/bdw/mh/mmk

24-Mar-95 8:32 am est (1332 utc)
nnnn

source: Voice of America

*****************************************************************
A tovabbterjesztest a New York-i szekhelyu Magyar Emberi Jogok
Alapitvany tamogatja.

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Reposting is supported by Hungarian Human Rights Foundation News
and Information Service.
*****************************************************************



#+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
#|    A Magyar Nemzeti Bank hivatalos deviza- es valutaarfolyamai     |
#|      Official exchange rates of the Hungarian National Bank        |
#|    Az adatok tajekoztato jelleguek, felelosseget nem vallalok.     |
#| Az esetleges hibakert elnezest kerek. Velemenyeket es javitasokat  |
#|                       szivesen fogadok.                            |
#|     FYI, no responsibility. Opinions, corrections are welcome.     |
#+----------------------------+---------------------------------------+
#|     vetel/BUY  eladas/SELL |  A kereskedelmi bankok arfolyamsavjai |
#| USD  114-116     120-125   |       Rates of commercial banks       |
#| DEM   81-83       85-89    |                 (HUF)                 |
#+----------------------------+---------------------------------------+
# VALUTA; ATLAG; VETEL; ELADAS; EGYSEG; MEGJEGYZES
# TYPE;   MEAN;  BUY;   SELL;   UNIT;   REMARKS
DATE=1995-MAR-24
UNIT=HUF
SOURCE='NAPI Gazdasag, 1995-MAR-25, p.11'
GBP;  192.96;  190.64;  194.12;    1;  angol font (skot es eszakir is)
AUD;   87.81;   86.91;   88.51;    1;  ausztral dollar
BEF;  416.10;  412.02;  418.94;  100;  belga (es luxemburgi) frank(100)
DKK;   21.54;   21.33;   21.69;    1;  dan korona
FIM;   27.50;   27.27;   27.73;    1;  finn marka
FRF;   24.30;   24.06;   24.48;    1;  francia frank
GRD;    0.00;   51.78;   52.70;  100;  gorog drachma(100) (kozepar nincs)
NLG;   76.56;   75.91;   77.17;    1;  holland forint
IEP;  193.13;  191.10;  194.56;    1;  ir font
JPY;  136.41;  135.40;  137.60;  100;  japan jen(100)
CAD;   85.92;   85.19;   86.77;    1;  kanadai dollar
KWD;  408.08;  404.77;  412.01;    1;  kuvaiti dinar
DEM;   85.81;   85.09;   86.51;    1;  nemet marka
NOK;   19.26;   19.11;   19.43;    1;  norveg korona
ITL;   69.65;   69.53;   70.93; 1000;  olasz lira(1000)
ATS;   12.19;   12.09;   12.29;    1;  osztrak schilling
PTE;   81.55;   80.91;   82.31;  100;  portugal escudo(100)
ESP;   93.12;   92.28;   94.00;  100;  spanyol peseta(100)
CHF;  103.64;  102.65;  104.35;    1;  svajci frank
SEK;   16.52;   16.38;   16.68;    1;  sved korona
USD;  120.67;  119.69;  121.83;    1;  USA-dollar
XEU;  156.69;  155.28;  158.00;    1;  European Currency Unit (ECU)