Hungary has the highest increase in food prices in the EU

The latest European inflation figures are out. This shows that the situation in Hungary is very bad. You have to pay a third more for food in Hungary than you did a year ago. Hungary tops the EU food inflation league table. The country is also fourth in terms of all products.

Latest Eurostat statistics

In mid-September, Eurostat published price statistics for all EU countries. It shows that Hungary had the fourth highest price increase in August.

In three Baltic countries, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, prices rose by between 21.1 and 25.2 percent. Hungary followed with 18.6 percent. This means Hungary is the top performer in the region. In Austria, for example, inflation was half as high.

Within the European Union, the best performers were the Finns, Maltese and French. These countries have inflation rates of less than 8 percent, according to Eurostat data, Telex.hu reports. The average for EU countries was 10.1 percent.

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Hungary is on the top

Inflation is measured by taking into account nearly a thousand products and services. But this includes changes in the price of exotic travel, winter tyres and children’s shoes, which affect fewer people. But changes in food prices affect everyone’s life. That is why it is so terrible that Hungary has the highest inflation if we look only at food prices.

In Hungary, food costs on average a third more than a year ago. For Hungary, the increase is 34 percent, followed by Lithuania 30 percent and Latvia 26 percent. In neighbouring Austria, the increase was just 13 percent.

In the European Union, Ireland, France, Luxembourg and Cyprus are the luckiest in this respect. In these countries, food prices have risen by less than 10 percent, 24.hu reports. In the European Union, food inflation averaged 14.3 percent. In other words, the food price increase in Hungary is almost 2.5 times higher than the EU average.

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Source: 24.hu, telex.hu