In order to shield Hungarian consumers from the effects of mostly energy-related price increases, the government is extending the existing price cap on fuels and six basic food groups until July 1, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced on Wednesday.
“The government has extended the price cap for basic foodstuffs and fuels for another two months, until July 1,” Orbán announced in a Facebook video on Wednesday.
The prime minister said prices were rising across Europe, and the primary reason for this was war.
“Until the war is over, prices will rise,” Orbán predicted. He said that is why the government was addressing the issue of fuel and food prices at today’s meeting and concluded that “they cannot stand idly by.”
“In Hungary, the government is doing everything it can to protect families from the consequences of rising prices, so we are applying price caps and price caps for some basic food and fuels, which are due to expire, we had to decide what to do,” he explained in the video.
Hungary first decided to put a price cap on gas and diesel of 480 forints per liter (€1.27 at the current exchange rate) from Nov. 15, 2021, for three months, extended for another three months just before expiration.
In a second move, on Jan. 12, the government also decided on freezing the price of six basic foods (sugar, wheat flour, sunflower oil, pork leg, chicken breast and 2.8 percent fat milk) at their Oct. 15 level.
The combined effect of the two measures kept Hungarian inflation in the middle range of the EU’s inflation data so far.
