BUDAPEST: Consumer prices in Hungary rose by an annual 0.9 percent in December, accelerating from a 0.5 percent increase in November, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Thursday.
The headline figure was in line with the estimate by emerging market analysts in London, who attributed the rise mainly to base effects, namely a big drop in fuel prices in the same month a year earlier. Food prices rose by an annual 2.2 percent in December and prices of tobacco and spirits increased by 3.8 percent.
Consumer durable prices were up by 1.7 percent and service prices climbed by 1.5 percent. Clothing prices edged down by 0.1 percent and household energy prices slipped by 0.2 percent. Prices in the category of goods that includes vehicle fuel were down by 2.8 percent.
Harmonised for better comparison with other European Union member states, Hungary’s CPI was up by 1.0 percent. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and fuel prices, was 1.4 percent.
Calculating with a basket of goods and services used by pensioners, CPI was 1.2 percent. In a month-on-month comparison, CPI fell by 0.3 percent as prices of goods in the category that includes vehicle fuel dropped by 0.8 percent.
Hungary’s average annual inflation was down by 0.1 percent in 2015. The harmonised rate shows an increase of 0.1 percent and core inflation was 1.2 percent. Pensioners’ prices rose by an average annual 0.4 percent.
Takarekbank analyst Gergely Suppan forecast a continued, albeit moderate acceleration in CPI in the coming months on base effects. Annual average inflation this year could still remain under 2 percent, he added. CIB Bank analysts put average annual inflation in 2016 at just over 1 percent.
