Hungary’s Forint is set to rally from all-time lows reached last month, with markets awaiting a deal from Budapest to acquire European Union funds.
However, the currency may struggle over the coming year to surpass the psychological 400 per Euro mark, according to a Reuters news agency survey.
The Forint is Central Europe’s worst-performing currency so far this year, losing over 12%. That said, it is forecast to edge up 4.9% to 400 to the Euro in the next year.
The Hungarian currency has fallen by as much as 5% over the last month, reaching a record low on Monday of 426, impacted by soaring energy prices, a widening current account deficit, lack of an agreement with the EU over funding as well as the announcement from the central bank it would stop rate hikes.
"In the longer term, the topic of EU money remains on the table and will be with us until at least mid-November. We maintain our optimism related to the deal, giving the Forint a boost to rally," Peter Virovacz, ING senior economist said.
In addition, after losing 1.7% against the Euro over the last month, Poland’s Zloty is forecast to gain 2.4% from Tuesday’s close over the coming year, and trade at 4.7, the Reuters report goes on to say.
"Given the interest rate disparities we are recording right now and the fact we are probably close to a turnaround in the U.S. Dollar it seems there is room for stronger PLN," said Pekao economist, Piotr Bartkiewicz.
Furthermore, the Czech Koruna will likely remain steady over the coming year. Since May, the central bank has intervened to prevent the currency from extreme swings as markets were impacted by the war in Ukraine and Europe’s energy crisis.