A new beginning and the decades of socialism
World War II resulted in a massive inflation never seen before, especially from the summer of 1945. Metal coins disappeared from circulation. The country became a war scene in 1944. Attempts to curb inflation remained unsuccessful. The 75 % banknote duty could only slow down the devaluation of money for 11 days, and the situation was aggravated by the uncovered banknotes of the Red Army. Tax pengő was introduced as a unit of calculation. upon introduction on 1 August 1946, 1 forint was equal to 4 x 1029 pengő, and the pengő volume in circulation did not reach 1 fillér.
There are multiple trains called Gold Train, however, we refer to the one that transported the gross 33 tons of gold, foreign currency, banknote reserves of the central bank and other valuables entrusted to the bank. The train left Veszprém and headed West at the end of 1944 with 230 bank officials, their relatives and 50 gendarmes on board. Valuables were deposited in the former Benedictine abbey of Spital am Pyhrn. Deposits were transferred to the custody of the U.S. Army at the end of the war. Gold was transported to Frankfurt am Main and repatriated to Budapest on 6 August 1946. This constituted the gold base of forint, the new currency. It was named after the golden coins introduced under Charles I, even though the gold coins minted under Matthias and the banknotes of Kossuth were also called a forint. Prices and salaries were specified by the authorities. 1 forint equalled 0.07575 grams of gold; however, its coverage could not be sustained for long. Currency stabilisation without foreign loans was a success despite all its flaws, it does deserve the title “Hungarian currency miracle”.
In 1947 an Act provided for the nationalisation of the shares of Magyar Nemzeti Bank and major banks owned by Hungarian individuals and companies, which was followed by the liquidation of banks. Corporate accounts were transferred to the central bank, while retail finances to the National Savings Bank Corporation. The two-tier banking system ceased, a single-tier system was introduced and MNB was no longer independent. The economic reform of 1968 had already implemented market influences in the economic policy. MNB handed over the management of the accounts of the councils and their institutions to the National Savings Bank in 1971, in addition to that of retail clients. The new economic scheme and the reform of the banking system came to a halt at this point.