Hungarian fuel prices reach record high: government will reintroduce price caps?
Fuel prices are above HUF 600 (EUR 1.56) again in Hungary, which was the average price of last November. Therefore, infostart.hu asked Gergely Gulyás, the minister of the prime minister’s office on the last cabinet briefing whether the government plans to reintroduce fuel price caps. Here is the answer.
According to holtankoljak.hu, fuel prices decreased significantly last December. For example, the average gasoline 95 price was just a bit over HUF 561/l at the end of the year.
However, due to an EU regulation, the fuel tax had to be increased in Hungary. As a result, prices started to go up in January and broke the HUF 600 level this week.
Therefore, infostart.hu asked Gergely Gulyás, the minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, whether the government would like to reintroduce fuel price caps again. The Orbán cabinet introduced the fuel price cap in 2022, before the elections and abolished it in December 2022, after the fourth consecutive landslide victory over the joint opposition. That was a must because even MOL highlighted that the country would run out of fuel provided the price caps remained in effect. Long queues at petrol stations had become a usual sight by then in Hungary.
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Fuel prices may fall by HUF 20 soon
Gergely Gulyás said the government does not intend to reintroduce the price caps because fuel prices have not yet reached a limit that needs their intervention. He added that when they introduced the scheme, the market price of fuel would have been around HUF 800-900. According to holtankoljak.hu’s chart, that is not true. Even the highest fuel price in June 2022 did not reach HUF 800.
Anyway, the government does not want to intervene. But what can we expect concerning the fuel market in Hungary?
According to Infostart, because of the falling crude oil prices, fuel prices will probably decrease. Based on novekedes.hu, the media outlet of the Hungarian National Bank, fuel prices may decrease by HUF 20/l soon.
Fuel prices follow the changes in oil prices and the forint/euro exchange rate with a few days’ delay.