Annual inflation in Hungary was 3.7 percent in February, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Friday. Month on month, prices rose by 0.7 percent. Meanwhile, Hungary’s cash flow-based budget, excluding local councils, posted a deficit of 1,704 billion forints (EUR 4.321bn) at the end of February, the finance ministry said on Friday, citing preliminary data.Â
Food prices increased by 2.2 percent, while household energy prices went down by 9.0 percent. Services prices were up 10.0 percent, while consumer durables fell by 2.0 percent. Commenting on the data, National Economy Minister Márton Nagy said in a statement that real wages had been rising again since the September turnaround, thanks to the continuous fall in inflation and the December minimum wage increase, further strengthened by the teachers’ wage increase and general wage dynamics. In 2024, real wages could grow by more than 5-6 percent, he added.
Having brought down inflation, the government will now focus on “the main task of 2024” of restoring economic growth. To achieve this, the activity of the labour market must be boosted further, the ratio of investments must be maintained above 25 percent, and household consumption must be restored by strengthening consumer confidence.
Budget posts HUF 1,704 bn deficit in February
Hungary’s cash flow-based budget, excluding local councils, posted a deficit of 1,704 billion forints (EUR 4.321bn) at the end of February, the finance ministry said on Friday, citing preliminary data. The central budget had a deficit of 1,760 billion forints and the social security funds were 23.5 billion forints in the red but separate state funds were 79.0 billion forints in the black.
The budget had a 54.4 billion forint surplus in January. The ministry noted that revenue in February was “several hundred billion” forints lower than in an average month because of VAT seasonality. It said that the fiscal impact of pension payments, including an annual bonus equivalent to a full month’s pension, had reached 1,041 billion forints in February.
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In addition to covering extraordinary expenditures, the budget has ensured the resources for protecting pensions and family subsidies as well as maintaining regulated household utilities prices, the ministry said. “The government’s aim is to gradually reduce the deficit and state debt,” it added. The government targets a deficit of 4.5 percent of GDP in 2024, 3.7 percent in 2025 and 2.9 percent in 2026, the ministry said. The full-year deficit target in the 2024 Budget Act is 2,514.8 billion forints.
EU transfers another HUF 30 billion of funding to Hungary
Another 30 billion forints (EUR 75.2m) of previously blocked European Union funding has arrived in Hungary, Finance Minister Mihály Varga said on Facebook on Friday. The funding will be used as prefinancing for investments to advance the green and digital transition, the finance minister said.
“These funds will be used in the framework of an operative programme for environment and energy efficiency, Varga said. He said the transfer brought the amount of funding drawn down from the 2021-2027 cohesion funds to 1.22 billion euros, placing Hungary 11th among member states in terms of drawdown. “Since the end of December, Hungary has received more than 550 billion forints from the previously blocked EU funding,” Mihály Varga said.
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3 Comments
Would you TRUST the Orban Government with your MONEY ?
You would be a High Risk taker than I – Gunda Din – if you did.
We know, over a considerable period in time 18 months plus, that the PUBLISHED inflation data/statistic’s in Hungary have been MANIPULATED.
Factually – this February inflation figure is BUTCHERED and is WRONG what has been published.
We believe it still is running at 10% to 12% – in the COST factors of the Daily NEEDS of all Hungarians.
It could “flare up” easily again through the continuing downward SOFTNESS of the “sickly” Hungarian Economy.
NOTHING is getting CHEAPER in Hungary.
I will see it for myself when I visit but family are saying that prices for many things are increasing on a weekly basis. From their opinion inflation is much higher than the statistics that are published. What was shocking last summer was seeing prices of basic fruits and vegetables as high in Budapest as in Canada or higher. Milk is very expensive and the tiny packages of salami they sell you in CBA are a rip off.