Hungarian government hasn't had this much money at its disposal for a year and a half

The amount of deposits held by the central government at the central bank increased from HUF 2,715.1 billion in June to HUF 3,527.4 billion in July 2025,

reaching its highest level since January 2024.

The central bank holds the government's liquid reserves in a Treasury Single Account. According to recent statistics from the MNB's balance sheet, 48.6% of government reserves — equivalent to HUF 1,715.4 billion — were held in forint deposits at the end of July, while the remaining HUF 1,812 billion was held in foreign currency deposits. This figure was last higher in March 2009, during the global financial crisis.

Compared to June, the stock of forint deposits increased by almost HUF 310 billion, while the stock of foreign currency deposits rose by around HUF 500 billion.

The main reason for the increase was the substantial dollar bond issue at the end of June, when Hungary sold a total of USD 4 billion worth of foreign currency bonds. A few weeks later, the country also went to the Chinese bond market, but with a much smaller issue. This sum was presumably received in July, given that government deposits rose by only HUF 300 billion in June.

Interestingly, the amount raised by the dollar bond issue was reflected quite differently in the MNB's foreign exchange reserves. In June, these reserves rose from EUR 45.8 billion to EUR 47 billion, and then grew further to EUR 47.1 billion in July. However, if we consider only the largest portion of foreign exchange reserves — namely, foreign currency claims — the central bank recorded an increase of €2.2 billion last month, following a minimal decline in June.

Meanwhile, other receivables increased from €4.1 billion to €5.8 billion in June before falling back to €3.3 billion in July, meaning that the funds from dollar bonds did not have a particularly significant impact on foreign exchange reserves.

However, Hungary's foreign exchange reserves could have risen to a new high, as they were last higher than the current €47.1 billion in January this year. The peak was €47.7 billion in May 2024.