Hungarian consumer price inflation accelerates above expectations in December

Hungarian consumer price inflation accelerated slightly in the month of December. According to the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation accelerated to 4 percent from November’s 3.4 percent, coming above consensus expectations of 3.8 percent. Food prices rose 5.9 percent year-on-year, within which pork prices rose 23.7 percent, sugar prices by 12.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the price of alcoholic beverages and tobacco rose 8.4 percent year-on-year. Tobacco prices rose 12.3 percent. The price of services rose as well by 3.2 percent, within which rent rose 10.5 percent. Electricity, gas and other fuels came in at 0.6 percent.

On a sequential basis, the consumer price inflation came in at 0.3 percent in December. Delving into details, food prices rose 0.7 percent on average, within which pork prices rose 7.5 percent. The price of non-alcoholic beverages dropped 1.1 percent, while the prices of cheese fell 0.9 percent. The price of alcoholic beverages and tobacco rose 0.6 percent, whereas the price of motor fuels rose 0.3 percent sequentially.

The core inflation rate slowed down marginally in the month. On a year-on-year basis, the core rate came in at 3.9 percent, as compared with prior month’s 4 percent and consensus expectations of 4.1 percent.

In the whole of 2019, consumer prices rose 3.4 percent on average, within which food prices were up 5.4 percent. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco prices mainly drove the headline rate, rising 8.1 percent. Meanwhile, services prices rose 3 percent, whereas the price of electricity, gas and other fuels and that of clothing and footwear rose 1 percent. The price of other goods rose 1.3 percent on average.