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Hungary's Stock Market Problem: Low Liquidity, Not Corporate Appetite
Hungarian companies prefer bank loans over equity, but a new survey shows the real bottleneck is low liquidity, not a lack of appetite for public markets.
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Hungarian-listed companies want to raise capital. Nearly 70% of them plan some form of financing in the next twelve months, according to a survey by Equilor Corporate Advisory conducted between February and April 2026. The survey covered roughly half of the issuers on the Budapest Stock Exchange, representing a combined market cap of over 9,000 billion forints.
Yet the first choice for most of those companies is not the stock market. More than half of respondents said they would prefer bank loans or other debt instruments. Equity and bond issuance ranked as alternative or supplementary options.
That does not mean companies fail to see the strategic value of being listed. The survey found that listed firms increasingly view exchange presence as a long-term development tool, not a one-time funding event. They cite transparency, professional governance, and active investor communication as core benefits of public status.
So why the gap between intention and action?
The biggest obstacle, according to the companies themselves, is low liquidity. Limited investor demand directly affects valuations, financing costs, and the success of future capital raises. High transaction costs and regulatory compliance burdens also weigh on the decision to use public markets.