Budapest- Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany on Friday canceled a trip to two Gulf kingdoms to focus on Hungary's financial crisis and economic slowdown.

Gyurcsany and a Hungarian business delegation had planned to travel to Oman and Qatar for two days starting Tuesday. No new dates were set, the prime minister's office said.

Budapest- Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany on Saturday called for a "national pact" to combat the effects of the ongoing financial crisis before a meeting of national leaders.

"Hungary is navigating in the middle of a storm in rough waters," Gyurcsany said at a meeting of past and present leaders and politicians.

Gyurcsany's plan seeks national consensus for a plan to bring Hungary into the eurozone, finance pensions in the future and reform the public finances.

Budapest - The European Central Bank has agreed to lend Hungary up to 5 billion euros (6.8 billion dollars) to help ease credit conditions, the ECB said Thursday.

The accord will help Hungary's central bank provide extra euro liquidity in the East European nation, the Frankfurt-based ECB said in a joint statement with the Hungarian Central Bank.

Euro-denominated loans are a key source of finance in Hungary, which joined the European Union in 2004 but has not switched to the euro.

Hungary's currency, the forint, regained some of Wednesday's losses against the euro after the announcement.

Budapest- Hungary's minority socialist government has opted against a planned moderate tax reform in light of the global financial crisis.

A legislative proposal introduced last month was withdrawn Monday after a meeting of the Hungarian parliament's committee for rules and internal procedures.

The reform would have lightened the tax load on citizens and businesses by 150 billion forints (810.9 million dollars) starting in 2009. Experts had called the planned step insufficient to boost Hungarian businesses, which have long complained about their heavy tax burden.

Budapest - MOL plc, Hungary's expansion-minded oil and gas group, nearly doubled its stake in Croatian energy company INA to more than 47 per cent in a deal worth 1.2 billion dollars, MOL said Friday.

MOL said it expects anti-trust regulators to approve the purchase, which would give the Hungarian company a larger share of INA than the Croatian government's near-45-per-cent stake.