Budapest  - The Hungarian National Bank opted to maintain its high base rate of 9.5 per cent at a meeting of its Monetary Policy Council on Monday.

The bank said in a statement that the decision was a response to worsening economic conditions and a need to maintain stability and the value of the national currency.

The decision was announced after a morning of wild swings in the value of the forint, when it weakened to 307 against the euro before firming slightly.

This volatility came two days after Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany's surprise announcement that he was ready to step down.

Budapest - British Petroleum (BP) plans to set up a service centre in Budapest that could create about 1,000 new jobs, Hungary's Minister for Development and Economy, Gordon Bajnai, said Monday.

Bajnai noted that, although some 30,000 jobs have been lost in Hungary since October, around 12,000 new jobs had been created, the state news wire MTI reported.

Vodafone and IBM have both recently announced new service centres to be opened in Hungary.

Budapest  - Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany announced his resignation on Saturday, saying a new government with a new leader was needed to tackle his country's economic meltdown.

Hungary's main opposition party, Fidesz, promptly repeated its call for early elections, announcing that it plans to present a motion to dissolve parliament on Monday. If that motion is carried, it would complicate Gyurcsany's goal of passing his position on to another member of his party.

Budapest  - Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany announced his resignation on Saturday, saying a new government with a new leader was needed to tackle his country's economic meltdown.

Hungary has been particularly hard hit by the global recession and Gyurcsany has seen his personal popularity hit a rock bottom of 18 per cent - the lowest for any Hungarian premier since the fall of communism.

At a congress of his Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) in Budapest, the deeply unpopular premier spoke of the need for a wider social consensus to tackle the crisis.

Budapest - Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said on Saturday he will step down from office, calling for a new government with a new leader to tackle Hungary's economic crisis.

At a congress of his Hungarian Socialist Party in Budapest, the deeply unpopular premier spoke of the need for a wider social consensus to tackle the crisis.

"I hope I am the only obstacle to this - and if I am, then I will now remove that obstacle," Gyurcsany said.

Budapest  - Hungary's economy is set to shrink by 4 to 5 per cent this year, the head of economic think tank Kopint-Tarki said on Friday.

The economic research institute has issued increasingly grim forecasts over recent months as Hungary's economic gloom has deepened.

In December, the estimate was a contraction of 1.3 per cent, said Kopint-Tarki head Eva Palocz.