The retail price freeze for sunflower oil and other food products in Hungary has been lifted from August 1, 2023, but at the same time, the amount of mandatory discounts on 20 product categories in retail stores has been increased from 10% to 15%. According to the local government spokeswoman Alexandra Szentkiraja, such a measure “will protect consumers from the consequences of the explosive rise in energy prices and erroneous Brussels sanctions.”
Fixed prices for milk, eggs, potatoes, sugar, wheat flour, sunflower oil and chicken meat are in force in the country since the beginning of 2022. However, the abolition of these restrictions is unlikely to cause an explosive rise in prices, told a leading analyst of the Hungarian Foundation for Economic Research to RIA Novosti. According to him, over the past year and a half, the turnover of retail stores has noticeably decreased, with people saving more and buying less.
“Purchase prices have gone up, and if Hungarian retail turnover had not fallen, I would immediately say that prices would certainly soar. But in Hungary, the drop in retail turnover is in double digits for the first few months of the year, and there is very little opportunity for retail stores to raise prices, because customers don’t go to stores as often, don’t buy as much as they used to, so further price increases may cause the effect of an even greater drop in turnover,” the expert said.
He also noted that the restrictions in place since the beginning of 2022 have fulfilled their task of slowing down price growth, and the reason why the government decided to cancel them was the consistent decline in inflation: in January 2023 it was 25.7%, by summer it fell to 20.1%, in August, is expected to be at 15%.