Pictures: In Hungary, Burning Money for Fuel—Literally

Redistributing a Wealth of Banknotes

Photograph by Laszlo Balogh, Reuters

Volunteers work with a mountain of money—a pile of worn-out Hungarian forints that have been turned into heating briquettes with about the same caloric output as low-grade, or brown, coal. The bills no longer have any monetary value but they proved priceless during a winter of unusually brutal cold across eastern Europe. Hypothermia deaths of homeless people and others who lacked adequate heating were reported throughout the continent. Several schools in Hungary suspended class, and one said it was due to the high cost of heating. In Budapest, the average daily low in early February was about 10°F (-12°C), significantly below the average of 27°F (-3°C) for that time of year. Although spring temperatures have returned for Hungary and neighboring countries, the high cost of heating over the winter added a burden for citizens already struggling due to economic woes and government austerity moves.

Published March 21, 2012

Passing Cash

Photograph by Attila Kisbenedek, AFP/Getty Images

Old banknotes are processed at a Central Bank of Hungary facility in Budapest as part of a successful supplementary heating program, even as the nation's larger economy has been struggling. Hungary's deficit and controversial economic policies are of growing concern to other EU nations and to groups like the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). So too is Hungary's apparent move away from multi-party democracy and toward greater concentration of central authority.

But Prime Minister Viktor Orbán delivered a broadside attack on critics last week, aiming his ire especially at the EU, which earlier in the week suspended $655 million (495 million euros) in funds due to Hungary, because of its budget deficit.

"We will not be a colony," he said to a cheering crowd of about 100,000 supporters gathered outside the parliament building.

Published March 21, 2012

Bricks for Fuel

Photograph by Laszlo Balogh, Reuters

Some four tons of heating briquettes made from banknotes are dumped into a truck for delivery to needy charities across Hungary. A single 1 kilogram (2.2-pound) brick contains the remains of some 5 million forints, or about $20,000 (U.S.). Chosen charities may receive as many as 20 or 30 tons of the briquettes each year.

Published March 21, 2012

Cash Conveyance

Photograph by Attila Kisbenedek, AFP/Getty Images

Hungary has about $7.5 billion worth of banknotes in circulation at any given time, and most of those bills pass through a government quality control center each year. Currency that has become worn, torn, or otherwise ready for retirement—about 25 percent of the total each year—heads first to the shredder and later to machinery that presses it into compact briquettes.

Published March 21, 2012

Counting Change

Photograph by Laszlo Balogh, Reuters

A clerk displays forints at Hungary's largest bank, Budapest's OTP. The longtime communist nation held multiparty elections and launched a free market economy in 1990. But in January 2012, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's government adopted a controversial new constitution, establishing government under a set of "cardinal laws" that cannot be removed without a two-thirds vote of the Parliament. Many of these laws were passed last year, giving the current majority conservative party Fidesz enduring authority over governance of the central bank, judiciary, media, elections, and even legal recognition for religions in Hungary.

Published March 21, 2012

Out of Circulation

Photograph by Attila Kisbenedek, AFP/Getty Images

Machinery hums at a logistics center of the Central Bank of Hungary, where decommissioned bills are converted into coal-like heating briquettes for use by cash strapped charities. To make absolutely sure that the bills eventually go up in smoke, and not into someone's pockets, they are shredded and compressed into blocks under tight supervision and delivered to fortunate charities at no charge.

Published March 21, 2012

Stacking and Waiting

Photograph by Laszlo Balogh, Reuters

Stacks of Hungarian forints await inspection. Some will be refashioned into heating briquettes, but those returned to circulation will play a much larger role in the nation's future. While economic woes have made Hungary reliant on outside assistance, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán  is a vocal critic of the EU and its economic policies. Although the forint has plunged in value due to the nation's soaring debt, the fact that Hungary retains its own currency may enable Orban's government to pull the nation politically farther away from its European neighbors.

Published March 21, 2012