Loans still hard to get in Hungary

The business paper Világgazdaság writes that Hungarian banks are very slow to grant loans at present. "It seems the recent efforts of the Hungarian government to make banks free up loans have all been to no avail. Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány spoke two weeks ago about how it was taking far too long for companies to get urgently needed loans. … Admittedly it's easy for the government to point out that most of the banking sector [over 80 percent] is in foreign hands, the subtext being that the parent companies should solve the liquidity problems of Hungary's credit institutes. This argument sounds plausible but the problem is that the parent banks are contending with their own liquidity problems. And even if they did have the money at their disposal they're not necessarily going to spread it around Eastern Europe. … But time is ticking relentlessly and for Hungarian customers it's becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to get a loan."

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