Aside from all the other things that make the March 15th holiday so exciting, this year's celebrations have a few new twists. According to this report on Caboodle.hu, here's one: Until March 19, eighteen life-sized statues of hussars in various uniforms will be exhibited at major junctions throughout the city, each representing one of the hussar regiments serving in the Hungarian army in the 1840s. And in related news, the Szamos Marcipán Múzeum Cukrászda will be open all weekend, offering visitors another chance to marvel at its life-sized marzipan statue of Michael Jackson. Enjoy!

Hungary has been sobered by the financial crisis but it still has a long fight ahead, Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai told an economic forum at Szolnok College on Thursday. He listed the steps taken to ease the crisis in the past year, citing the transformation of the pensions and social care system and tax reductions as the most essential changes. "It looks as if one can see the light at the end of the tunnel," he said in Nagyszénás, also on Thursday, as he opened a new Toolex Metal Processing assembly hall. In Mezőberény, Bajnai took part in laying the foundation stone for a new Fábafém factory. The company obtained a Ft 99 million EU subsidy for the nearly Ft 200 million project. A 17-member group brandishing Jobbik flags repeatedly shouted "traitor," at Bajnai, but no incidents were reported.

Tamas Suchman, head of the Balaton Development Council, told public radio MR1 on Thursday that he was resigning from coordinating the construction of a MotoGP motorcycle racetrack near the lake over accusations surrounding the project. "I do not want to participate in such a project where every kind of accusation has been started, from blackmail to the uncertainty of recouping the investment," Mr Suchman said. The next government can take a decision on the matter, he added. The government decided in the autumn on HUF 20bn in state subsidies and a state guarantee for a loan of at most HUF 15.3bn from MFB for Savoly Motorcentrum Fejleszto, which is building the HUF 40bn racetrack, called Balatonring. But the contract has still not been signed amid reports Finance Ministry officials do not back the plan.

Television advertising revenue in Hungary fell 16pc to HUF 60bn in 2009, Valentin Nemeth, a senior consultant at Ernst and Young, said on Thursday. Revenue from advertising by national terrestrial broadcasters fell 21pc to HUF 48bn, while that of thematic television stations grew 10pc to HUF 12bn. Revenue from sponsored spots fell 29pc to HUF 2.5bn.

The Budapest Municipal Council on Thursday approved the city's 2010 budget showing expenditures of HUF 539bn and revenue of more than HUF 491bn. The budget was passed with a vote of 34 ayes and 30 nays.

The Hungarian state has raised the capital of Malev to give it a 95pc stake in the national carrier, Finance Ministry spokesman Ferenc Pichler confirmed for MTI on Thursday. The state raised capital in Malev by HUF 25.4bn, of which HUF 20.7bn was in cash and HUF 4.7bn in converted debt. The state reached an agreement to renationalise Malev on February 26. Under the agreement, former majority owner AirBridge has retained a 5pc stake in the airline. Before the capital raise, on Wednesday, Russia's state-owned Vnesheconombank transferred a EUR 32m bank guarantee that covered AirBridge for rental fees Malev was to pay Hungary's National Asset Management Company (MNV) under the privatisation agreement. MNV will review the position of the airline in the coming period, MNV spokesman Zsolt Zichermann told MTI.

Magyar Telekom on Thursday said it is expanding its client service portfolio by taking the first steps to entering the Hungarian retail gas and electricity market. "In line with Magyar Telekom’s strategy of capturing incremental revenue sources in business areas where the company can build on its existing capabilities, it has decided to enter the retail energy market, via the resale of natural gas and electricity, leveraging off the extensive sales networks that it already has in place. It is anticipated that participation in the retail electricity and gas market will enable Magyar Telekom to retain existing, and win new, telecommunication customers with attractive energy offers. The company expects that such electricity and gas offers will help to support upsell and upgrade offers in the telecommunication business as well," Magyar Telekom said. Magyar Telekom will launch electricity and gas retail offers for a targeted segment of its residential and business customers from April 2010 to test customer perception and acceptance in the initial phase. Following the phase, the company will assess the potential for further penetration of the energy market in the second half of 2010. Liberalization of the Hungarian electricity and gas market has been completed by July 2009 enabling Magyar Telekom to team up with a wholesale provider that will supply the Company with sufficient electricity and gas volumes, the telco said. Magyar Telekom is going to start reselling electricity and gas to its existing customer base as a bundled product supplementing the telecommunication services offered, it added.

Hungary's banking sector is likely to demonstrate a slow recovery after enduring a severe stress test in 2009, Fitch Ratings said in a report published on Wednesday. The stress experienced by Hungary's banks would have been more severe had the sector not benefited from a combined International Monetary Fund (IMF) a and European Union support programme, which together with the Hungarian authorities' tightening fiscal policy, helped to stabilize the sector. However, Fitch notes that fiscal tightening has aggravated Hungary's recession in the short term, Fitch said. The agency believes that without the IMF/EU support programme, the Hungarian banking system would currently have been in a worse situation, given the macro-economic imbalances, its high share of foreign-currency lending, the funding requirements of such lending and years of rapid loan growth. As a result, the support measures have enabled the banking sector to avoid greater challenges, Fitch said. "The profitability of major Hungarian banks in 2010 is likely to remain under pressure given depressed revenue generation caused by reduced loan growth and sizeable loan impairment charges as asset quality continues to suffer," says Michael Steinbarth, Senior Director in Fitch's Financial Institutions team based in London. "The banks' heavy reliance on the strong performance of investment in domestic government bonds will also not be sustainable in 2010." New lending in CHF to households has fallen dramatically since October 2008 as banks changed their lending practices amid the new operating environment. The change has been reinforced by recent regulations issued by the Hungarian Ministry of Finance on retail lending. The regulations stipulate more severe lending criteria for loans in foreign currency by capping the available loan volume and also introduced more restricted loan to value ratios on foreign currency denominated loans compared with local currency loans. As a result, Fitch expects that the loan growth rates seen in the past will not be repeated in the short- to medium-term. In addition, the regulations do not deal with the existing loan stock in foreign currency, which is sizeable in the case of the Hungarian banking system, accounting for roughly 70pc of total lending, Fitch said. The average loans/deposits ratio fell to around 151pc at end-2009, from 159pc at end-2008 as a result of reduced lending. activity and greater efforts to gather customer deposits. While this seems relatively high, Fitch notes that the mortgage bonds in issue reduce some of the re-financing risk as they provide a more long-term source of financing. Nevertheless, the loans/deposits ratio highlights a continued reliance on wholesale funding, which is sourced from either foreign parent banks or the institutional market, Fitch said. Capital adequacy has improved, but remains modest, in Fitch's opinion, when taking into account contingent risks (from lending in foreign currency) and current multi-national discussions on the changes in capital requirements.

Risk of higher gas and oil prices are likely to bring consumer prices over the targets of the National Bank of Hungary and the government, analysts told MTI on Thursday, after the publication of fresh CPI data for February. Hungary's twelve-month CPI was 5.7pc in February, slowing from 6.4pc in January, when several centrally-regulated prices were raised. Erste Befektetesi's Orsolya Nyeste said the drop in core inflation in February showed prices continue to be under control. But risk related to gas and oil prices remains high, making an "undershoot" of the government's and central bank's targets unlikely, she added. Zsolt Kondrat of MKB Bank said higher oil and gas prices, as well as the elimination of the gas price subsidies would bring average annual inflation to 4.7pc, over the NBH's target of 3.9pc and the government projection of 4.3pc.

The main opposition Fidesz party's recently established fact-finding committee will first look into the development of Hungary's budget deficit and the government's decisions concerning the sale of carbon dioxide quotas, Mihaly Varga, former finance minister and head of the committee, told reporters on Thursday. At the press conference, Varga called on the government to "stop secretly selling out" the country's carbon dioxide quota and stop "giving away similar assets" before the general elections in April. Varga said that the committee was to complete its report by August. Fidesz leader Viktor Orban announced setting up the committee on Monday. He then said that the new body was designed to "perform a full screening" of the economy. Government spokesman Domokos Szollar said that all Hungarian economic and budget data was open and available to all. He said that the government would ensure that all democratic parties in Hungary would have a renewed opportunity to scrutinise the books. "There aren't any secrets, no cats in the bag or skeletons in the closet," Szollar said.

Hungary's finance ministry expects a smaller economic contraction of 0.2 percent in 2010 than its earlier forecast of 0.3 percent, the deputy finance minister told a news conference on Thursday. Tamas Katona also said the budget deficit target of 3.8 percent of gross domestic product was still attainable in spite of a large shortfall in February. The budget deficit was 381.9 billion forints in February, around 40 percent of the full-year target.

Telco Vodafone Hungary has become the biggest single sponsor of the Marathon Effort For SOTE II (a fund-raising exercise which will see two local expats run almost six marathons in six days across the Sahara desert), with a massive donation of €18,000 (HUF4.8 million). This week also saw official notice of what amounts to Royal interest in, if not actual patronage of, the appeal and the charitable foundation backing it.

Mike Kelly is one half of the Madhouse Theatre Company, which has been entertaining audiences here in Hungary for the past ten years. On 21 April 2010 the Merlin Theatre Budapest will stage a unique charity event by presenting the popular play 'One Set To Love' to help with Cancer research. Just a few days after that Mr. Kelly will run a marathon for the same good cause.

"March 15th is our national holiday when we commemorate Revolution and the following War of Independence against the Austrian-Habsburg rule in 1848-49.

"Hungary has carried out the capital increase at Malév on Thursday and so it has become the 95% owner of the airline. The remaining 5% stake remained at Airbridge Zrt., Finance Ministry spokesman Ferenc Pichler told local newswire MTI.

One of the biggest decisions and undertaking in life is purchasing a new property. The reason can be either moving to a new home or buying a property with the aim of investment. However only a few of us are aware of the necessary terms and conditions of a real estate sale and purchase contract required by law. In Hungary legal representation is obligatory in the land registry proceeding. Despite this fact many people sign offers and preliminary contracts for the desired real estate without legal advise.

"We invite visitors to the Museum on Thursday evenings, with longer opening hours, a Jazz Salon, guided tours and special programmes.

"Following the Tele-Vision party at the former headquarters of the Hungarian TV, where a several-storey high LED installation re-presented Cinetrip’s idea of live broadcasting in the 21st century, at the exhibition celebrating the digital switchover, there will be an unmitigated Cinetrip party where water is replaced by interferences and DJ-generated sound frequencies. Expect Budapest‘s top electronic producers, and an installation made up of 20.000 LED pixels designed and carried out by Skylab, the in-house visual crew of Cinetrip.

"Support for Hungary’s main opposition party Fidesz and the ruling Socialist Party (MSZP) has dropped moderately in March relative to the first two months of 2010, while far-right Jobbik increased its voter base, the latest poll of Szonda Ipsos showed on Thursday.

"Two close friends, one woman, a tyrannical father and a melancholic butler. A passionate love triangle, jealousy, betrayal, lust, murder, intrigue and... Frolics. The box office receipts from this performance will go to charity, click here for more info