EU stats office in talks with Hungary over inflation calculations
By Gergely Szakacs
BUDAPEST (Reuters) — The EU's statistics agency said on Thursday it was in talks with Hungary's main data body over how energy inflation was calculated, days after two local economists suggested current figures underestimated the strength of price growth.
The EU agency Eurostat said the talks, which started in the autumn, were part of broader efforts to harmonise inflation statistics across the bloc. It made no mention of the economists.
The Hungarian Central Statistics Office (HCSO) earlier this week dismissed the economists' assertions and said the changes it made to calculations in 2022 were in line with EU standards. It did not respond to a request for fresh comment on Thursday.
Hungary's headline inflation figure dipped into single digits in October for the first time since April 2022, with a 9.9% reading that undershot market forecasts of 10.4%.
On Tuesday the opposition daily Nepszava newspaper cited economists Tamas Mellar and Tamas Katona, two former HCSO heads, as saying that under the previous methodology, October headline inflation would have been 1 to 2 percentage points higher.
On Thursday Mellar, who is also an opposition lawmaker, told online news website hirklikk.hu the statistics were being used for what he called «propaganda purposes».
Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government has put pressure on Hungary's central bank to cut interest rates more sharply to help the economy climb out of recession, while the economy minister has called several times for a review of the bank's inflation target.
Hungary's central bank, which has led a charge in rate cuts in central Europe, lowering its key rate by a combined 650 basis points since May to 11.5%, said Eurostat validated and regularly
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