"The Hungarian government is to take the price of gas for households up by 13.5% on 15 April, right-leaning daily Magyar Nemzet said on Monday, citing a document it obtained. News on the weekend was that there would be no gas price hike in early April, so in this respect, it was not a lie.The paper said the “delay" in the hike was the referendum called for 9 March, as a price increase to be carried out on 1 April would have to be announced officially before the referendum, while the government will have time until 17 March to make such announcement if the hike is implemented only on 15 April.
The paper said, citing the document as the source, that political parties have addressed the delayed price increase together. According to the draft decree, the reason for the hike is the rise in the price of Russian import gas.
The paper calculated that a 13.5% price hike would take the retail price of one cubic metre of natural gas to HUF 120.82 from the current 106.45, but Magyar Nemzet has no information as to how much more wholesale users and public utilities would have to pay.
The last time the price of gas went up was on 1 January this year - 5% for retail and 4.3% for non-retail consumers."
Source: Portfolio Online Financial Journal
25.02.2008