Editing Economy of Hungary (section)

===Privatization in Hungary===
In January 1990, the State Privatization Agency (SPA, ''Állami Vagyonügynökség'') was established to manage the first steps of [[privatization]]. Because of Hungary's $21.2 billion [[foreign debt]], the government decided to sell state property instead of distributing it to the people for free.<ref name="3541privatization_in_hun">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vlADbGaMluEC&pg=PA427 |title=Privatization in Hungary and its Aftermath |author=Iván Major |year=2003 |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing |access-date=5 January 2010 |isbn=978-1-84064-613-9}}</ref> The SPA was attacked by populist groups because several companies' management had the right to find buyers and discuss sale terms with them thus "stealing" the company. Another reason for discontent was that the state offered large tax subsidies and environmental investments, which sometimes cost more than the selling price of the company. Along with the acquisition of companies, foreign investors launched many "greenfield investments".<ref name="3541privatization_in_hun"/>

The center-right [[Hungarian Democratic Forum]] government of 1990–1994 decided to abolish agricultural co-operatives by splitting them up and giving machinery and land to their former members.<ref name="3458strucutural_problems">{{cite journal |url=http://jcea.agr.hr/volumes.php?lang=en&search=Article%3A136&field=title |title=Structural Problems in Hungarian Agriculture After the Political Turnover |author1=B. Vizvári |author2=Zs. Bacsi |date=2 June 2003 |journal=[[Journal of Central European Agriculture]]|access-date=5 January 2010}}</ref> The government also introduced a Recompensation Law which offered vouchers to people who had owned land before it was nationalized in 1948. These people (or their descendants) could exchange their vouchers for land previously owned by agricultural co-operatives, who were forced to give up some of their land for this purpose.<ref name="3458strucutural_problems"/>

Small stores and retail businesses were privatized between 1990 and 1994, however, [[greenfield investment]]s by foreign retail companies like [[Tesco]], [[Cora (hypermarket)|Cora]] and [[IKEA]] had a much bigger economic impact.<ref name="3541privatization_in_hun"/> Many public utilities, including the national telecommunications company [[Matáv]], the national oil and gas conglomerate [[MOL Group]], and electricity supply and production company [[MVM Group]] were privatized as well.<ref name="4991privatisation_in_hun">{{cite web |url=http://www.nao.org.uk/nao/intosai/wgap/8thmeeting/hungary2chpt4.pdf |title=Privatisation in Hungary (1990–2000) |author=Árpád Kovács |access-date=5 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607035214/http://www.nao.org.uk/nao/intosai/wgap/8thmeeting/hungary2chpt4.pdf |archive-date=7 June 2011}}</ref>

Though most banks were sold to foreign investors, the largest bank, [[OTP Bank|National Savings Bank (OTP)]], remained Hungarian-owned. 20%–20% of the shares were sold to foreign institutional investors and given to the Social Security organizations, 5% were bought by employees, and 8% was offered at the [[Budapest Stock Exchange]].<ref name="5955political_economy_of">{{cite web |url=http://www.sml.hw.ac.uk/cert/wpa/1996/dp9613.pdf |title=Political Economy of Privatization in Hungary: A Progress Report |author1=Anna Canning |author2=Paul Hare |publisher=Department of Economics, Heriot-Watt University |location=Edinburgh |access-date=5 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003090300/http://www.sml.hw.ac.uk/cert/wpa/1996/dp9613.pdf |archive-date=3 October 2011}}</ref>