MNB Governor Mihály Varga signs partnership agreement with South Korean counterpart

Basel, 10 November 2025 – “In a rapidly changing, uncertain global economic environment, the most important task of central banks continues to be achieving price stability and maintaining financial stability,” according to MNB Governor Mihály Varga, speaking at a meeting of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel. He added that cooperation between central banks played an important role in managing current economic challenges, and as such, so did the new partnership agreement with the Bank of Korea.

Governor Varga pointed that recent years had demonstrated that inflation may represent the primary obstacle to sustainable growth. Therefore, as far as the central bank was concerned, anchoring inflation expectations was indispensable. As he had previously noted, although the modest easing of trade tensions observed in recent months had improved the global economic outlook somewhat, the growth outlook for Germany, Hungary’s most important foreign trade partner, remained subdued. Varga added that financial markets continued to react sensitively to trade and geopolitical developments. The increasing fragmentation of international supply chains, the continued increase in global food prices, as well as the strong price dynamics in market services, which posed upside risks to global inflation, could also be observed in our environment. He stated that these factors justified central banks’ stability-oriented monetary policies, both in Hungary and in our environment.

During his trip to Basel, the Governor of the MNB signed a partnership agreement with the Governor of South Korea’s central bank. This partnership opens up possibilities for knowledge-sharing and joint research between the two central banks, primarily in the field of digital financial innovation. The relationship between the Hungarian and South Korean central banks has continued to grow stronger in recent years. The current agreement serves as a foundation for a long-term, professional partnership in addressing similar challenges and deepening central bank cooperation.

Magyar Nemzeti Bank