Important macro data are in the pipeline this week. Hungary’s Central Statistical Office (KSH), for instance, is to publish not only inflation statistics for May, but also the latest industrial production data. We’ll also learn why did the Hungarian economy performed so outstandingly in the first quarter of 2018.
This week is off to a slow start in terms of macro releases. On Monday, we’ll receive only factory orders data from overseas.
On Tuesday, things will take off. The Hungarian statistical office will publish detailed figures for Q3 GDP growth and retail sales stats for April which will be the first data for the second quarter. According to preliminary figures, the Hungarian economy grew by 4.7% in January-March, which could have been revised by the stats office, and it will also release details about the structure of growth. Elsewhere, we should keep an eye mostly on manufacturing purchasing manager indices, and Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, will publish retail sales data for the bloc.
On Wednesday morning, the KSH is going to release industrial production data for April which could give us further information as to how the second quarter started for the Hungarian economy. Foreign sales statistics are to be released in the United States in the second half of the day.
Thursday will not be boring, either. The National Bank of Hungary (MNB) is scheduled to publish data for its international reserves, and the Finance Ministry is next in line to release budget figures for May. The biweekly bond auction by the Government Debt Management Agency (ÁKK) might also be interesting to watch, especially in view of the market turbulence over the last few weeks. Eurostat is set to release revised GDP data for Hungary also in the morning, i.e. we’ll be able to see in European comparison how the Hungarian economy fared in Q1.
As mentioned above, the KSH is going to release CPI data and foreign trade statistics on Friday, and there are some important releases in the pipeline in Asia and Germany, as well.
