BUDAPEST: The National Bank of Hungary (NBH) lowered its inflation forecast for this year in a quarterly forecast released on Tuesday. The central bank lowered its CPI forecast for 2017 to 2.4 percent in its quarterly Inflation Report from 2.6 percent in the previous report published in March. The NBH also lowered its 3 percent inflation forecast for 2018 to 2.8 percent but kept its 3 percent forecast for 2019 unchanged. The NBH is predicting 3.6 percent GDP growth this year, unchanged compared to its earlier forecast. The 3.7 percent economic growth expected for next year is also in line with earlier projections as is the 3.2 percent GDP growth forecast for 2019. The central bank will publish the full Inflation Report on Thursday. NBH noted that for 2016 it is expecting the Central Statistical Office to revise upwards its GDP growth data of 2 percent to 2.2 percent.
The Hungarian government forecasts GDP growth to accelerate to 4.1 percent this year and to 4.3 percent next year and inflation to be 1.6 percent in 2017 and 3 percent in 2018 based on its projection in an update of the country’s Convergence Programme.
