Hungarian government extends markup caps, retailers protest

The government has decided to extend a mandatory cap on markups for a range of food products until the end of August, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said at a weekly press briefing on Wednesday.

The 10pc markups cap was rolled out in mid-March and was initially set to wind up at the end of May. Gulyás said the markups cap was a “good tool against unjustified price increases”. He noted that the government had also recently introduced a mandatory, 15pc markups cap on some household products.

Both markup caps will remain in place until “at least August 31”, he added. Monitoring for compliance and enforcing the markup caps are a “priority task” for the consumer protection and competition authorities, Gulyás said. The government will take “firm steps” against all unjustified price increases, he added.

Gulyás: Ukrainian organised crime rings behind more than 80 pc of online scams

More than 80 percent of text message-based and online banking scams are linked to Ukrainian organised criminal rings, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office said on Wednesday, warning that the recent increase in banking scams was tied to the Ukrainian mafia’s use of “increasingly professional methods” to defraud depositors.

Private individuals alone have lost more than 8 billion forints (EUR 19.8m) in these types of scams recently, Gergely Gulyás told a regular government press briefing, adding that police and the financial institutions concerned have managed to recover 1.5 billion forints so far.

The government has decided to set up a working group with the involvement of the national security services and the police that will be tasked with curbing Ukrainian cyberattacks and the Ukrainian mafia, Gulyás said. The working group will be asked to draw up an action plan, he said, adding that the government will also tighten legislation and discuss the group’s proposals at its next meeting.

• Related article: PM Orbán blames surge in bank fraud on Ukrainian criminals

Gulyás: Govt earmarks HUF 4.7 billion to manage drought conditions

The government has allocated HUF 4.7bn to top up reservoirs and canals in preparation for drought conditions this year, Gulyás said. Based on experience in recent years, Gulyás said several regions of the country were at high risk for drought. He added that the government had earlier declared a drought emergency and established a government commission to deal with the threat.