Magyar Nemzet, the leading pro-government daily announces in its headline that “the National Bank will be Hungarian again”. Anna Szabó argues nothing extraordinary happened in the wake of the announcement, the forint remained did not waiver. She believes all this proves that international economic actors started to appreciate the achievements of Matolcsy as Minister of the Economy.

While under outgoing president András Simor, the National Bank (MNB) was loyal to the IMF and international organizations, even at the price of re-interpreting Hungarian law, from now on, Szabó continues, the MNB will be at the service of the Hungarians and the Hungarian economy. The change is a relief, she argues, for while Simor was after the inflation target, keeping interest rates high, other national banks abandoned that paradigm long ago. Szabó expects the new MNB boss to conduct a more flexible policy with an eye on increasing Hungary’s growth potential.

HVG’s commentator, Leonárd Máriás describes Matolcsy as “the man who dreams about money printing machines”. Drawing on previous publications by Matolcsy – who has a regular column in centre-right-wing Heti Válasz – the author accuses the new MNB President of believing that the financial sector as a whole is made of nothing but malicious speculation.

The commentary quotes Mr Matolcsy as emphasising production and dismissing finance as ’hocus pocus’. In a vitriolic remark he calls the change is historic indeed, as Matolcsy will be the first MNB president who thinks in those terms. He also blames Matolcsy for despising the view that the world is rules by utilitarian rationalism. He thinks irrational decisions may turn out to be rational and vice versa – the journalist quotes. Instead of ’the traditional logic where money is the only measure’ (another quote from Matolcsy), now we will have a leading banker in whose vocabulary the most important items are ’love, faith, trust, participation and empathy’.

Although at some points in his career Matolcsy did support ’orthodox’ measures, he still thinks there are ways to support economic growth that go beyond the usual scope of MNB tools and cites ’12 or 16 measures’ already taken by other central banks that could prove useful in Hungary, Máriás remarks disapprovingly.

In Népszabadság, Levente Tóth simply calls Matolcsy “the engine”, and jokes about how difficult it must have been for Orbán to pick the right person. Matolcsy is the longest serving Minister in the two Orbán governments, apart from the prime minister himself and the minister of the Interior. He also managed to elegantly bypass previous MNB president and former favourite, Zsigmond Járai, who has recently turned against the government’s economic policies.

The MNB is and will remain independent –the author quotes the Prime Minister – because quite independently from one another, Matolcsy and Orbán want the same. They found in each other the partners who appreciate each other’s visionary thinking, Tóth concludes.

In Népszava, György Sebes recalls that Matolcsy has always been trusted by the Prime Minister. This has been proven again and again when Matolcsy’s policies were so controversial that even the pro-government Magyar Nemzet speculated he might have to go.

The new Minister of the Economy, economist and fiscal expert Mihály Varga, is also a trusted associate of Orbán’s, Sebes states. Should he secretly harbour some ideas to turn the ship, he will be reminded of what Orbán said on March 1st: “the government’s plans remain the same and so does the economic policy”. Orbán can now celebrate – all important positions in the country are occupied by his men, just as he had planned, claims the columnist in a bitter coda.

Véleményvezér, a conservative blog increasingly critical of the government suspects that PM Orbán feels more comfortable now with his old allies, whom the commentator accuses of following him blindly anywhere. So Matolcsy comes handy, for he is the man who believes in unorthodoxy, especially when the government is in need of cash.

He would cut the interest rate or even draw on the monetary reserves if so required by the government’s political designs. As for the vacated post of the Minister of the Economy, the blogger spares no despise for Matolcsy’s successor, Mihály Varga, an otherwise popular politician. The Prime Minister, Véleményvezér argues, will not find people who are willing to identify with his “economic policies that change direction every other day”, and so Mihály Varga is the obvious choice.

Miklós Újvári in Világgazdaság, a left-leaning business daily, says Matolcsy’s takover was carefully prepared and cushioned with government communication, and the success is remarkable as the markets have not been shocked at all. Their patience – speculates the author – may also reflect the fact that from Monday on, Matolcsy is minister no more – a relief for the markets, for Mihály Varga is known as a competent and cautious politician. Újvári believes Matolcsy cannot do “anything exceedingly stupid” in his new job as issuing bank chief, “because he would immediately get a good beating from the markets”.

On Cink.hu, László Szily, a popular and irreverent and independent blogger once associated with Index.hu (Index was left by several leading journalists, including two editors in recent months), comments on Matolcsy’s new position in an unusually sombre tone. Matolcsy moves in with a Blietzkrieg – he writes, referring to the gossip according to which all activity in the bank will cease as Matolcsy ordered that anything to sign must go to the top first. Szily says he when everything is controlled from the top, the end is not far away. If the new system only applies until Matolcsy gets rid of all analysts and other employees he does not trust, as the rumour goes, then there is yet hope for the bank, but if he keeps up this level of control, MNB will fall apart.

On Index, Miklós Jenei and András Szabó chose to comment on Varga’s appointment rather than Matolcsy’s. They concur with other commentators: the new Minister of the Economy is loyal and faithful yet he is also competent and cautious. The choice, the authors speculate, might have been motivated by a desire to restore confidence in Hungarian economic policy.

He also has strong support within Fidesz: he received the most votes of all three vice-presidents at the party assembly. He has also been considered as a successor to Orbán, although on some occasions he slipped and was forced to withdraw some remarks on policy issues. The authors describe him as polite and patient, although sarcastic at times.

Source: BudaPost

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