New system to withdraw cash in Hungary begins today

As we wrote, many things change in the Hungarian supermarkets from 1 July. One of the changes is that from today, you can withdraw some money at the cashier’s desk. However, the amount is limited.

We explained Hungary’s brand-new price monitoring system in detail in THIS article. However, that is not the only change concerning shops and supermarkets in Hungary. Today is the first day we can withdraw a maximum of HUF 40 thousand (EUR 107) per month at the cashier’s desk. The transaction is free.

According to telex.hu, in practice, the shop assistant will type the needed cash amount into the final purchase price. The government expects the new ‘cashback’ service will increase traffic in shops and supermarkets. It can be big help in small settlements where banks do not have an office or an ATM. As a result, you may withdraw HUF 190 thousand (EUR 510) instead of HUF 150 thousand (EUR 402) for free in Hungary from today. That is a 27 percent increase, a rate Hungary’s inflation almost reached this January-March. That is the highest in Europe. The opposition blames the government’s measures, while the Orbán cabinet regularly throws the ball to Brussels, the anti-Russia sanctions, Ukraine and the COVID aftermath.

Life has become much more expensive in Hungary in just one year. Therefore, you need much more money because, for example, food product prices increased by 40-50 percent or even 100 percent in some cases. Therefore, we can explain the new cash withdrawal system as a reflection of that change.