date=3/22/96
type=correspondent report
number=2-194708
title=East Euro Investment (l only)
byline=Barry Wood
dateline=Prague
content=
voiced at:

Intro:  Reports suggest that the flow of foreign direct
investment into post-communist Eastern Europe is accelerating.
V-o-A's Barry Wood reports that three countries continue to
attract the bulk of foreign investment.

Text:  The winners in 1995 were again Hungary, the Czech Republic
and Poland.  Excluding Russia, the Eastern European economies
attracted more than seven billion dollars in direct investment
last year.  That is at least a 10 percent increase over 1994.

The Economist Intelligence Unit in London says investment flows
are greatly increasing and could double during 1996 and 1997.

More than two thirds of the foreign investment again went into
the three fast reforming Central European nations.  Hungary alone
attracted more than two-point-five billion dollars.  The Czech
Republic was second with two-point-two billion dollars, and
Poland third with more than one-point-two billion dollars.
Romania was a distant fourth with about 500 million dollars.

In many cases the investment flows comprise just a few very big
transactions.  In the case of the Czech Republic, for example,
more than one billion dollars was paid to the treasury last year
when a Dutch / Swiss consortium won a bidding contest for a
minority holding in the Czech telecom system.  Likewise in
Romania almost all of the inflow came from South Korea's Daewoo
company, which has bought and is modernizing one of the country's
two biggest auto plants.  Poland, which has been steadily
receiving more investments, should be a big winner in 1996 since
Daewoo, General Motors and Fiat all will be paying money for auto
plants they have already signed contracts for.

The Economist Intelligence Unit says when including the countries
of the former Soviet Union incoming investments in the region
last year may have exceeded 10 billion dollars.

Much of that additional money is going into oil and gas projects
in Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazahkstan.  The Research
Organization says investment flows to the broader region may have
doubled in 1995 and could double again during the next two years.
It predicts that Russia and Poland will be the big winners with
Hungary's relative share of inflowing investment declining.
Germany is identified as the major source of the investment flows
with the United States second.

In cumulative terms -- from 1989 to the present -- Hungary is
very much the biggest winner, having attracted nearly nine
billion dollars.  Poland is second with just under six billion
dollars and the Czech  Republic third with five-point-three
billion dollars.  Russia has attracted just under five billion
dollars.

Among the biggest losers in attracting foreign direct investment
are Ukraine, where  no  more than 400 million dollars has been
invested by foreign firms, and Bulgaria with  no  more than 300
million dollars.  (Signed)
neb/bdw/mh/cf

22-Mar-96 11:35 am est (1635 utc)
nnnn

source: Voice of America


date=3/22/96
type=correspondent report
number=2-194719
title=East Euro Stocks (s only)
byline=Barry Wood
dateline=Prague
content=
voiced at:

Intro:  Eastern Europe's stock markets were mixed this week as
high flying Warsaw fell back while Prague gained another two
percent.  V-o-A's Barry Wood has more.

Text:  In Warsaw the stock market lost two percent on Friday,
closing lower for the third straight session.  On the week the
WIG index was down 17 points to 11 thousand 467.

In Prague the market again touched a new 12 month high as good
earnings sent S-P-T Telecom sharply higher.  The P-X 50 index
gained 10 points or two percent on the week to 495.

Budapest was also higher with the BUX index gaining 27 points to
23 hundred 75.  The market liked the news that Hungary will next
week sign an agreement to enter the Paris based Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development.

In Romania stock trading expanded to three days per week and 10
shares are now traded.  Business confidence, however, is
declining as the Central Bank is attempting to curtail currency
speculation and the International Monetary Fund has suspended a
loan installment.

Slovenia was down five percent, Bulgaria was steady and Slovakia
gained one percent.  (Signed)

neb/bdw/mh/cf

22-Mar-96 1:27 pm est (1827 utc)
nnnn

source: Voice of America


#+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
#|    A Magyar Nemzeti Bank hivatalos deviza- es valutaarfolyamai     |
#|      Official exchange rates of the Hungarian National Bank        |
#|    Az adatok tajekoztato jelleguek, felelosseget nem vallalok.     |
#| Az esetleges hibakert elnezest kerek. Velemenyeket es javitasokat  |
#|                       szivesen fogadok.                            |
#|     FYI, no responsibility. Opinions, corrections are welcome.     |
#+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
#|     vetel/BUY  eladas/SELL  < A kereskedelmi bankok arfolyamsavjai |
#| USD  136-140     146-147    <      Rates of commercial banks       |
#| DEM   93-95       98-102    <                (HUF)                 |
#+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
#
# VALUTA; KOZEP; VETEL; ELADAS; EGYSEG; MEGJEGYZES
# TYPE;   MEAN;  BUY;   SELL;   UNIT;   REMARKS
DATE=1996-MAR-22
UNIT=HUF
SOURCE='NAPI Gazdasag, 1996-MAR-23, p.16'
GBP;  225.11;  223.07;  227.51;    1;  angol font (skot es eszakir is)
AUD;  113.84;  112.97;  115.17;    1;  ausztral dollar
BEF;  482.40;  477.35;  486.93;  100;  belga (es luxemburgi) frank(100)
DKK;   25.68;   25.40;   25.92;    1;  dan korona
FIM;   31.85;   31.49;   32.13;    1;  finn marka
FRF;   28.89;   28.60;   29.18;    1;  francia frank
GRD;    0.00;   60.07;   61.27;  100;  gorog drachma(100) (kozepar nincs)
NLG;   88.62;   87.65;   89.41;    1;  holland forint
IEP;  231.44;  229.27;  233.83;    1;  ir font
JPY;  137.24;  135.62;  138.38;  100;  japan jen(100)
CAD;  107.64;  106.63;  108.73;    1;  kanadai dollar
KWD;  490.30;  485.60;  495.28;    1;  kuvaiti dinar
DEM;   99.17;   98.11;  100.07;    1;  nemet marka
NOK;   22.81;   22.57;   23.03;    1;  norveg korona
ITL;   93.60;   92.74;   94.60; 1000;  olasz lira(1000)
ATS;   14.10;   13.95;   14.23;    1;  osztrak schilling
PTE;   95.90;   94.94;   96.84;  100;  portugal escudo(100)
ESP;  117.96;  116.78;  119.12;  100;  spanyol peseta(100)
CHF;  122.63;  121.28;  123.70;    1;  svajci frank
SEK;   22.09;   21.81;   22.25;    1;  sved korona
USD;  146.65;  145.24;  148.14;    1;  USA-dollar
XEU;  183.61;  181.76;  185.40;    1;  European Currency Unit (ECU)