The council considered a single policy option at its Sept. 22 meeting and voted unanimously to keep the base rate unchanged at 5.5%.
“Decision makers agreed that geopolitical tensions created an uncertain global economic environment, which affected monetary policy’s room for manoeuvre in Hungary,” the minutes said.
Several members noted that inflation had remained close to or below the lower bound of the MNB’s tolerance band since the beginning of the year and was low compared with other European countries. The central bank targets inflation of 3%, with a tolerance band of plus or minus 1 percentage point.
However, policymakers acknowledged that higher inflation abroad posed a risk to Hungary’s future inflation path.
The council described risk premiums on domestic assets as showing “relative stability.” The forint remained within the strong range observed in recent months, continuing to help reduce inflation.
Members agreed that Hungary’s risk assessment would primarily depend on expectations surrounding the fiscal outlook and euro adoption, alongside conditions in external markets.
“The decision makers stressed that due to the uncertain global economic and financial market environment, leaving the base rate unchanged at the September meeting was warranted to achieve the inflation target in a sustainable manner,” the minutes said.
Council members agreed that the circumstances required “a cautious and careful monetary policy in the current environment”.
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