Hungary has two CPI-inflation numbers for August

HUNGARY - In Brief 08 Sep 2022 by Istvan Racz

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The release of the monthly consumer inflation data is rarely more interesting than now, given the structured increases of administratively controlled retail prices of fuel, electricity and pipeline gas, all in force since the start of August. For a base figure, headline CPI-inflation was 13.7% yoy in July, sharply up from 11.7% yoy in June. KSH's CPI-inflation report of this morning did not fall short of heightened expectations in any way. There are two numbers for the yoy headline rate, so that members of the audience can make their choice between them. Those who prefer a more conservative number should go for the 15.6% yoy value, put together by national standards, whereas those more interested in the full picture should go for the 18.6% yoy figure based on Eurostat methodology. To be clear from the very start, both rank as officlal data in Hungary, duly estimated and explained by KSH. So, the difference between the two figures is the following two items: - The impact of a May 27 measure to exclude the operators of cars with non-resident licence plates from eligibility to reduced-price fuels is not included in the national-standards figure, contrary to the Eurostat-based number. This difference was already present in previous months as well, making the Eurostat-based number a full percentage point higher than the national-standards figure. - The impact of the electricity and gas price increase (more accurately the reduction of eligibility to subsidised retail prices to the estimated average consumption of households) from August 1 will be reflected in the national-standards CPI only from September, when the bulk of the higher prices indeed will be charged and paid fo...