Hungarian Guilder - HUF

The Hungarian guilder (or “forint”) (HUF) has been the national currency of Hungary since August, 1st 1946.

The national currency of the Republic of Hungary (then Kingdom of Hungary, from 1919 to 1946) was first the Hungarian krona that came from the Austro-Hungarian krona of the late Austro-Hungarian empire, then from 1927, the “pengö” and finally the guilder were instituted by the Popular Republic of Hungary under the soviet influence after World War II.

This guilder remained the national currency of the Democratic Republic of Hungary born in 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the “Eastern Bloc countries”.

In the 90s, in a context of a strong inflation in Hungary, the Hungarian guilder clearly depreciated against yhe great currencies (the Ecu and the Euro, the Pound Sterling and the American Dollar).

Totally convertible into the other currencies since 2001, the Hungarian guilder is not associated to the ERM II (Exchange Rate Mechanism II) that defines the conditions necessary and previous (in terms of public deficit and public debt, but also the fluctuation of the national currencies against the Euro) to the integration of a EU country (the case of Hungary since 2004) in the Euro area.

Initially, Hungary seemed to count on an integration on January, 1st 2013, but the Hungarian debt, aggravated by the financial crisis of 2007-2008, could delay this due date.
During the XXIth century, when the Central Bank of Hungary tried to maintain its currency in a fluctuation band of +/-15% in comparison with Euro, with the aim to join the ERM II as soon as possible. This official policy had to be provisionally hung up by the end of February 2008.

Relatively stable at about 250 points between December 2003 and February 2006, the EUR/HUF cross reach its lower point  a 228 in July 2008, before the Hungarian guilder depreciates quickly against the Euro on the financial storm during the Fall of 2008, the EUR/HUF cross increases to an higher point of 316.50 in March 2009.

Then a clear adjustment intervenes (EUR/HUF = 267.31 in October 2009) on a quite active market (up to $2 billion negotiated each day on the Hungarian guilder).