The Hungarian forint may tumble as much as 13 percent against the euro, reversing a two-month rally, as the nation’s economic slump deepens, Bloomberg reported. The forint lost 3.04 percent versus the euro in the past two days, the biggest drop in emerging markets, after rising as much as 13 percent since March 6. The country is suffering as the euro area, which buys 57 percent of its goods, reduces purchases of products manufactured in Hungary such as Audi cars and Nokia mobile phones. Exports fell 18.2 percent from a year ago in March, according to government figures.

RHJ International, a European buyout firm with holdings in the auto-parts industry, has emerged as a suitor for General Motors Corp.'s European operations, a person familiar with the matter said, adding to the list of possible buyers scrambling to strike a deal with the U.S. car maker before the end of the month, The Wall Street Journal reported. Brussels-based RHJ is considering an offer for GM operations including Adam Opel GmbH in Germany, this person said.

In a related story, Bloomberg reported that Germany has allocated enough funds to deal with toxic assets, Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said, seeking to tackle the $1 trillion banking crisis without forcing taxpayers to spend more on bailouts in an election year. The government’s Soffin bank-rescue fund has €260 billion ($356 billion) left, with a maximum of €190 billion in toxic assets still on banks’ books, he said. Chancellor Business owners have complained that Steinbrueck stalled as he sought to limit the burden to taxpayers before Sept. 27 national elections.

The U.K. Treasury will call for faster payments to creditors and greater clarity on trades in the event an investment bank collapses, an effort to overhaul insolvency law after the demise of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Bloomberg reported. Investors will have more protection and information to determine the legal position of outstanding trades once liquidators have been called in. The proposals to reshape insolvency rules were published in London yesterday, forming the basis for a formal consultation later this summer. The U.K.

The African Development Bank is seeking to triple its capital base to accommodate surging demand for emergency loans from African states and businesses hit by falling export income and sharp declines in foreign investment and remittances. Donald Kaberuka, the AfDB’s president, will put the plans to the bank’s annual general assembly in Dakar this week in one of the first tests of developed countries’ commitments to financing an economic rescue package for Africa.

Germany's economy minister was quoted as saying Saturday that questions remain over plans by both Fiat SpA and auto parts maker Magna International Inc. to invest in General Motors' main European unit, Opel, and stressed that he is equally open to both suitors, the Associated Press reported. Fiat's chief executive, Sergio Marchionne, has visited Germany twice in the past week to present officials his plan to make GM Europe, including German-based Adam Opel GmbH, part of a global powerhouse also including Chrysler.

The International Monetary Fund has corrected an embarrassing error that led to the publication of exaggerated estimates of the external debt levels of crisis-hit eastern European states, the Financial Times reported. In its latest Global Financial Stability Report, published in April, the IMF provided key numbers on 38 selected emerging market countries, including their 2009 external debt refinancing needs as a ratio of their foreign exchange reserves.

Fiat Group CEO Sergio Marchionne will become the chief executive of Chrysler after the U.S. automaker emerges from bankruptcy, a Fiat spokesman confirmed Thursday. Marchionne, the 56-year-old dual Canadian and Italian citizen, has been tipped for the job since the Italian automaker reached a deal to take a 20-percent stake in the bankrupt Chrysler, The Associated Press reported. Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli has said he would step down when the bankruptcy is complete, which would make room for Marchionne. U.S.

Europe’s central banks are $40 billion poorer than they might have been after they followed a British move taken 10 years ago on Thursday to shrink the Bank of England’s gold reserves, analysis by the Financial Times has shown. London’s announcement on May 7 1999 that it would sell a large share of the Bank’s gold reserves in favour of assets offering a return, such as government bonds, was the high water mark of so-called “anti-gold” sentiment among European central banks.

Porsche SE’s controlling shareholders, the Porsche and Piech families, plan to meet in Salzburg, Austria today to hash out how to combine the sports-car maker with Volkswagen AG and reduce €9 billion ($12 billion) of debt, according to two people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported. The proposals under consideration include merging the carmakers and finding an investor to buy a stake in the combined company or selling the Porsche AG automotive unit to Volkswagen in return for cash and shares, said one of the people, who declined to be identified because the talks are private.