RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 167, 31 August 1998

HUNGARY SLOWS FORINT DEVALUATION RATE. In agreement with
the National Bank, the Hungarian government decided on
29 August to cut the monthly rate of the national
currency's crawling-peg devaluation from 0.8 percent to
0.7 percent as of 1 October, Hungarian media reported.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the move is expected to
reduce inflation and improve the current balance of
payments. "Although the Russian economic crisis has
painfully hit the Budapest Stock Exchange, its effects
on the Hungarian economy do not necessitate exchange-
rate policy measures," he said. MSZ

PINPOINT, POSTABANK DENY ILLEGAL COLLECTION OF DATA IN
HUNGARY. Former Postabank President Gabor Princz firmly
denied charges that he or his bank had illegally
collected information on leaders of the Federation of
Young Democrats-Hungarian Civic Party (FIDESZ-MPP) (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 28 August 1998), Hungarian media
reported on 31 August. The former executive manager of
Pinpoint Ltd., Gyorgy Meth, called allegations that his
firm carried out illegal surveillance of FIDESZ-MPP
politicians "false assertions." Meanwhile,
"Nepszabadsag" reported that it received an envelope,
allegedly from the Swedish Embassy, containing the
complete documentation of the secret investigation.
According to the documents, the investigation was based
exclusively on company registers and not on secret or
illegal sources. MSZ

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