Hungarian government relies on everybody to reduce inflation

The government relies on “players in the economy, offices and authorities that could reduce inflation-generating irregularities” in its efforts to reduce inflation below 10 percent by the end of the year, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office said after talks with the president of the Economic Competition Office (GVH) on Tuesday.

Gergely Gulyás mentioned a review of Hungary’s pricing practices as “extremely important” and said the competition authority had relevant powers in the area. He also praised GVH as doing a “professional job without any influencing”.

GVH chief Csaba Balázs Rigó said his office was “independent of the government but not of good governance”. As a state agency reporting to parliament it focuses on “problems significantly impacting people, including inflation”. GVH deals with inflation to ensure that the domestic markets “work well and benefit the Hungarian people”. He noted that GVH had been empowered in July 2021 to conduct expedited procedures to enforce the law and protect consumers, adding that the authority’s new powers included house searches to obtain data relevant to ongoing procedures.