Economy 12 April 2016, 11:18am

Hungary Economy Ministry "borrows" chart from Portfolio

Portfolio

Hungary’s National Economy Ministry has published a 7-page report on the impacts of the Sunday shopping ban that was the basis for the cabinet’s decision to rescind the law that kept most stores closed on the last day of the week. The document dated 11 April and signed by Economy Minister Varga has a handful of charts in it and one was eerily familiar to us. Why? Because it is Portfolio’s, although the ministry doctored the chart so that the “borrowing" would not be that obvious. Well, it failed. It did quite a poor job trying to hide Portfolio as the source.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government did an about-face regarding its stance on the no-work Sunday.

Antal Rogán, head of the PM’s Cabinet Office and Economy Minister Mihály Varga told a press conference on Monday that legislation put into effect in March 2015 and banning most retail stores from opening on Sundays will be rescinded.

According to local daily newspaper Népszabadság, Orbán instructed Rogán and Varga more than a week ago to start working on legislation that restores the original one and lets stores open on Sundays.

The paper said Orbán, his advisor Árpád Habony and Rogán have been working on the scenario for this about-face for weeks. Varga also took part in the preparations and he was responsible for creating the related law. The PM was cited as saying that “It’s good to have that bullet in the chamber. We may need to pull the trigger."

Orbán revealed last Friday that the cabinet will discuss Varga’s report on the impacts of the no-work Sunday law on Monday. The PM added that the report will be made public.

Accordingly, the Economy Ministry has published this 7-page report on the government’s website. You can read it here (in Hungarian).

It took only a glance to spot something really interesting. On page 3 we have found Portfolio’s chart used regularly, mostly in retail sales reports based on Central Statistical Office (KSH) data.

That’s only one thing, though. Someone at the ministry decided the stats office was the only source they need to indicate. Portfolio was erased - and in quite an amateur way too.

Third page of the original Economy Ministry report, featuring Portfolio’s own chart. Source: National Economy Ministry (kormany.hu)

We have saved the Economy Ministry’s report for later use, and we have also placed the two charts side by side for you to see what happened. The only difference between the two may be small but it speaks volumes of the ministry’s approach. We should also note that the staff member in charge of making Portfolio miraculously disappear was not exactly thorough, as he/she left a few pixels of the comma which is printed after the ‘H’ in ‘KSH'.

To see the chart in English, click on the link below for our latest report on Hungary's retail sales.Update:The Economy Ministry has said in an email that the report featured a "wrong table" for which they apoligized. (Well it was not wrong, only not theirs, but "nem megfelelő" may be translated as incorrect or not the correct. Anyhow it's not a table but a chart, but we do appreciate the effort and accept the apology. The ministry did replace our chart with its own. See below.