Economy of Hungary account transactions, and subsequent to OECD membership in 1996, for almost all capital account transactions as well. Since 1995, Hungary has pegged the forint against a basket of currencies (in which the U.S. dollar is 30%), and the central rate against the basket is devalued at a preannounced rate, originally set at 0.8% per month, the Forint is now an entirely free-floating currency. The government privatization program ended on schedule in 1998: 80% of GDP is now produced by the private sector, and foreign owners control 70% of financial institutions, 66% of industry, 90% of telecommunications, and 50% of the
Pound (currency) Pound (currency) The pound is a unit of currency in some nations. The term originated in the Frankish Empire as a result of Charlemagne's currency reform ("pound" from Latin "pondus", a unity of weight) and was subsequently taken to Great Britain as the value of a pound (weight) of silver. The English word "pound" is cognate with, among others, German "Pfund", Dutch "pond", and Swedish "pund". All ultimately derive from a borrowing into Proto-Germanic of the Latin expression "lībra pondō" ("a pound by weight"), in which the word "pondō" is the ablative case of the Latin noun "pondus" ("weight"). The