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Fidesz has asked the Constitutional Court to annul four provisions of the Constitution's 16th and 17th amendment, all approved by the Tisza-dominated new parliament. These were:- the provision required for the so-called public interest trusts (PITs), a legal construction, through which Fidesz exp...

Truly impressive: massive budget surplus reported for July

HUNGARY · In Brief · 10 Aug 2026

Well, this is quite brutal: the Finance Ministry reported a preliminary HUF523bn cash surplus for the central budget for July, bringing the cumulative seven-month deficit down to HUF2858bn or an annualised 5.4% of GDP: Indeed, the central budget had surpluses in each of the three months since Tis...

Lowest inflation for the last ten years, and its policy consequences

HUNGARY · In Brief · 08 Aug 2026

The headline rate of CPI-inflation fell to 1.2% yoy in July, from 1.7% yoy in June, the lowest figure seen since November 2016. This was a great surprise, analysts expected 1.5% yoy. Core inflation decreased by less, to 1.9% yoy from the previous month's 2% yoy, but non-fuel inflation was also do...

June industry, retail sales and trade data not quite as bad as it looks at first glance

HUNGARY · In Brief · 06 Aug 2026

This morning's KSH report of the June industrial output and retail sales data has been assessed as unfavourable by some local analysts. This judgement is based on the fact that industry shrank 1.4% mom and retail turnover fell 0.4% mom, both volume terms and sda basis. But indeed, these figures a...

Paks nuclear power plant is almost fully turned off, but economic impact is likely to be limited

HUNGARY · In Brief · 04 Aug 2026

As we reported a few days ago, Central Europe, and indeed the western part of the continent as well, is suffering from a severe drought, combined with unusually high peak daily air temperatures. Over the last few days, water levels in the Danube river have fallen to about half a meter lower than ...

Q2 GDP falls mildly short of analyst forecasts but it should not create pressure on government and MNB policy

HUNGARY · In Brief · 30 Jul 2026

Preliminary data for GDP growth in Q2 has been reported at 0.4% qoq, 1.6% yoy, following 0.8% qoq, 1.7% yoy in Q1. So, GDP grew by 1.7% yoy in H1 this year.This actual falls short of the average analyst expectation of 0.7% qoq, but the shortfall is not particularly big. The key thing is that the ...

Protected fuel prices are not coming back, PM Magyar said

HUNGARY · In Brief · 26 Jul 2026

Now that the Straits (now in plural, including Hormuz and Bab-el-Mandeb) are closed or semi-closed once again, and Brent is back up close to $100 per barrel, the potential return of protected fuel prices, i.e. the retail price caps on the two basic types of gasoline and diesel for all cars and tr...

The dominoes are falling: the Prosecutor General resigned yesterday

HUNGARY · In Brief · 23 Jul 2026 · 1 response

Gábor Bálint Nagy, Hungary's Prosecutor General resigned yesterday and will be reportedly out of office by August 25. Mr. Nagy is a key name of PM Magyar's list of the 'removables', or as he more often calls them, the 'Fidesz-puppets', those constitutionally independent, in principle politically ...

The MNB base rate fell further, to 5.75% today, just as promised

HUNGARY · In Brief · 21 Jul 2026

At today's regular monthly rate-setting meeting, the Monetary Council reduced the base rate further by 25 bps, to 5.75%. This was no surprise at all; the Governor actually promised this cut a month ago, saying this step would be done, and another one of similar size was coming in August as well, ...

The constitutional amendment went through without legal problems

HUNGARY · In Brief · 19 Jul 2026

Somewhat unexpectedly, President Sulyok signed the Constitution's 17th amendment last night, without turning to the Constitutional Court on the matter, to delay the amendment's taking effect. As a consequence: - His office term will end at midnight, today. Parliament's president, Ágnes Forsthoffe...

A decisive point in the power play between Tisza and Fidesz

HUNGARY · Forecast · 17 Jul 2026

The road back to democracy and to the political mainstream of Europe remains bumpy. But with an energetic push in the area of legislative reforms and in foreign diplomacy, Tisza appears to be making real progress in this direction, and with continued massive public support and strong internationa...

A second round in the power fight between Tisza and Fidesz

HUNGARY · In Brief · 13 Jul 2026

Earlier today, Tisza’s parliamentary supermajority approved a constitutional amendment, to oust the President, get rid of the head of the Constitutional Court (and three other judges in the Court, simply by reinstating a previous rule that judges must retire over the age of 70), and cancel the Fi...

Further progress in EU relations, and a major power test is coming next week.

HUNGARY · In Brief · 10 Jul 2026

The EU Commission has been reported today as having approved Hungary's accession to the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO). EPPO will have the right to investigate local wrongdoings related to the use of EU funds, continuously from now on and retroactively going back to June 2021, when it...

Oops! Inflation was down again in June

HUNGARY · In Brief · 07 Jul 2026

The headline rate of CPI-inflation fell marginally in June, to 1.7% yoy from the previous month’s 1.8%, defying analyst and MNB expectations of a small rise, to 1.9-2%. It looks lüke the strong forint is indeed very powerful, whereas normalising energy prices and the global food price cycle are a...

Leaving for a summer holiday risks missing a number of important events in today's Hungary

HUNGARY · In Brief · 03 Jul 2026

In hindsight, PM Magyar appears to have been right when he said that no one in Hungary's public service should plan a long holiday this summer. Returning from our own ten-day leave, we found an impressive list of important changes, which were the following: 1. The MNB base rate was reduced by 25 ...