VENTURE CAPITAL POST

The leaders of the 27 European Union (EU) countries agreed on Thursday to give Ukraine a new $54 billion aid package after Hungary gave in not to veto the move.

The central bank of Hungary is expected to press ahead with monetary easing in 2024 due to the sharp drop in inflation last month.

Registering slowest growth rate during the past nine quarters, Hungary's economy growth rate was weakest during the third quarter ending September as agriculture production drop impacted the gross domestic product (GDP) significantly. The stagnant construction activity coupled with underscoring risks to the government's capacity to keep up the economic momentum has been adversely impacting the GDP growth rate.

Hungary has become the first European country to sign a cooperation agreement for China's new "Silk Road" initiative to develop trade and transport infrastructure across Asia and beyond, China's foreign ministry said late on Saturday.

The fortunes of the Russian outpost of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's candy empire have ebbed and flowed with the Russian-backed separatist conflict in the east of his country.

The European Union has backed Euratom's decision to block Hungary's 12 billion euro nuclear deal with Russia, a move that could worsen the situation between the Kremlin and Brussels, the Financial Times reported.

The surging Swiss franc has dealt a double blow to homeowners in Austria, home of the trend for borrowing in the Swiss currency that has devastated mortgage holders across eastern Europe.

The United States is willing to help Hungary and other European countries build energy infrastructure to reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas, U.S. Chargé d'Affaires in Budapest André Goodfriend has told Nepszava newspaper.

Hungary's government plans to levy a new tax on Internet data transfers, according to the draft 2015 tax bill submitted to parliament late on Tuesday, which could hit Internet providers and the country's telecommunications companies.

Budapest, Hungary-based startup Tresorit landed $3 million in its Series A funding round with Euroventures as lead investor to provide both convenience and security along with its cloud storage services.

Hungary's OTP Bank is close to acquiring MKB from BayernLB said sources familiar with the matter, reported Reuters.

Raiffeisen Bank International reportedly aborted plans to sell its loss-making Hungarian business, saying that selling the asset at a knock-down price would trigger losses it was not prepared to accept.

The government of Hungary eyes the sale of its majority stake in savings bank Takarekbank, according to a government decree reported by Magyar Kozlony, the country's official gazette.

Hungary-based state-owned utility MVM Zrt announced on Tuesday its plan to purchase a minority stake in natural gas supplier Fogaz Zrt in a deal valued at HUF41 billion ($187.4 million).

Hungary applied for permission to sell bonds in the US market.