Here in Europe, it is still too early to talk about whether we are at the end of the inflationary spiral,” said Barnabás Virág, vice-president of the Hungarian National Bank (NMB), in InfoRádió’s Aréna program. According to him, the rate of inflation may begin to slow down at the end of the year or at the beginning of next year. He warned that two more aspects that have arisen in recent months must be taken into account when estimating the rate of inflation.
In addition to the rise in food and energy prices so far, the drought situation must be taken into account, which in the East-Central European region may trigger a new wave of price increases in the fall for those products that have already risen in price to one of the greatest extents. The other effect is the increase in utility prices due to the latest government measure. This will be reflected in the September bills and give another boost to inflation.
According to the central bank’s estimate, the rise in utility prices alone adds 3 percent to inflation. If this is only added as a rule of thumb to the latest inflation expectation of 15-16 percent, then an 18-19 percent inflation rate is already visible.
debreceninap.hu
