Food prices rose 1.5pc, but fell 0.9pc excluding the price of eating out. Pork prices fell 8.5pc and potato prices dropped 11.4pc, but fresh fruit prices rose 7.0pc.

Household energy prices edged down 0.4pc as piped gas prices slipped 3.1pc but electricity prices increased 2.1pc.

Consumer durable prices rose 2.7pc.

Motor fuel prices inched up 0.1pc. The government rolled out petrol and diesel price caps for Hungarian motorists early in March.

Prices of spirits and tobacco products increased 4.1pc and clothing prices rose 0.8pc. Service prices were up 4.0pc.

CPI adjusted for better comparison with other European Union member states was 2.6pc.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile fuel and food prices, was 2.2pc.

The CPI calculated with a basket of goods and services used by pensioners was 1.8pc.

In a month-on-month comparison, consumer prices edged up 0.4pc. Food prices, excluding the price of eating out, were flat. Service prices climbed 0.7pc, household energy prices were down 0.9pc and motor fuel prices rose 1.7pc.

Erste Bank chief analyst Orsolya Nyeste said headline CPI was just a hair over the bank's 2pc projection. The increase in food prices was "modest" as a government-mandated cap on markups for a range of products dropped out of the base period, she added.

Nyeste said CPI could rise over 5pc in the last third of the year but put average annual inflation under 4pc.

ING Bank senior analyst Peter Virovacz said headline CPI was a little under the consensus. He added that businesses were holding off on raising retail prices even though March factory gate prices showed their higher costs.

He said the impact of the conflict in the Middle East had not yet passed through to food prices, but added that higher artificial fertiliser prices could raise costs for farmers.

CPI could rise to around 3pc in the summer and reach 4.0-4.5pc at year-end, according to ING Bank. The lender's analysts put average annual inflation at 3.0-3.5pc.

Meanwhile, Gen govt deficit reaches HUF 3,849.8bn at end-April

Hungary's cash flow-based general government deficit reached HUF 3,849.8bn at the end of April, 70.7pc of the full-year target, the National Economy Ministry said in a preliminary release of data on Friday.

The central budget deficit reached HUF 3,743.4bn and the social security funds were HUF 150.3bn in the red, but separate state funds had a surplus of HUF 43.9bn.

The deficit for the month of April alone reached HUF 429.4bn.

Revenue from taxes and contributions climbed 8.2pc in January-April from the same period a year earlier.

On the expenditure side, pension spending climbed to HUF 3,099.4bn and spending on transportation and utilities rose to HUF 1,000.9bn. State investment spending increased "significantly" to HUF 318.8bn.

Expenditures on support for home renovation and purchases were also "significantly" higher at HUF 175.7bn.

Photo: Pixabay.com

Source: MTI – Hungary’s national news agency since 1881. While MTI articles are usually factual, some may contain political bias, and readers should be aware that such content does not reflect the position of XpatLoop, which is neutral and independent.

Since the goal of XpatLoop is to keep readers well briefed, right across the spectrum of opinions, MTI items are shared to ensure readers are aware of all narratives within the local media.

XpatLoop believes in empowering readers to form their own views through complete and comprehensive coverage. To facilitate this XpatLoop has a balanced range of news partners, as you can see when you surf around XpatLoop.com

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