Hungary proposes closure of Budapest IMF office

AFP
July 16, 2013

 

Hungary’s central bank governor Gyorgy Matolcsy said Monday the country will soon repay a 2008 loan from the International Monetary Fund, and that the organisation should close its Budapest office.

About 2.2. billion euros remain outstanding from a 20 billion euro ($25 billion) loan Hungary took from the IMF, the EU and the World Bank in late 2008 after it was frozen out of the bond market at the height of the global financial crisis.

In a letter to IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and posted on the central bank’s website, Matolcsy, a loyal ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, proposed the closure of the office — opened in 2009 — saying Hungary expects to pay back the loan ahead of schedule in 2014.

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