Hungarian consumer price inflation may have stayed below 6% in March, analysts told the business daily Napi Gazdaság on Tuesday. Their consensus for the twelve-month CPI was 5.7% yr/yr, a slowdown from 5.9% in February.

The Central Statistics Office (KSH) will publish March inflation figures on Wednesday.


Fuel prices rose steeply in March after a moderate increase in February, and food prices probably still rose at a high, although slightly lower pace, the analysts said, noting that the slowdown from February could come from an unusually high base.


Monthly inflation may have picked up to 0.9% after slowing to 0.8% in February, they said. 


Pushed up by tax rises, including a rise in the main VAT rate to 27% from 25%, the twelve-month CPI reached a two-year peak at 5.9% yr/yr in February, outpacing analysts’ highest expectations. The twelve-month rise was up from 5.5% in January and 4.1% in December.