Hungarian Florint is in free fall

[Bushman]

These are the most amazing times. The Florint is collapsing with the Hungarian Central Bank ractheting up interests rates to 13% to arrest the free fall.

Romania, Ukraine ie anyone not on the Euro with high debt, is next. Faarrk bet they wish they were still sucking from the teat of the Soviet mothership now. Globalisation and capitalism doesn't just bore its acolytes, it eats them.

This monster is now slowly morphing from bond/equities markets to currency markets as traders start to pick off the highly geared nations not pegged to a 'brand name' currency one by one. Then the Euro carrying its deadweights (ie Spain, Italy, Greece, even France).

Then the US dollar. Tick, tock, tick, tock...

The final leg, following rampant inflation, is geo political. I can guarantee Hungary will see a rise in the big F now. FASCISM my friends...

 

[chops_a_must]

There is a very good case for pegging currency in developing economies.

They get rampant inflation as their currency is bid up, as too much money chases too little, and then they get the same as their buying power is crushed on the way out.

It's what we will get here as well.

Interesting to note, the asian economies that recovered best after 98 were those that protected their currency with such measures, against IMF wishes...

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

I have an old Hungarian friend returning to live there, good news for him, he's been in oz for 40 years or so, and he has a TPI from DVA.

gg