Hungary with new measures against price hikes

So announced Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's office chief of staff on September 17th.

Budapest has criticised the European Union for imposing sanctions on Russia due to Ukraine's invasion, saying sanctions have failed to weaken Moscow and on the other hand have affected rising food and energy prices.

Inflation in Hungary has reached the highest level in the past two decades, forcing the Hungarian National Bank to significantly raise the base rate to 11.75 percent.

Announcing the duration of the ceiling price, which was previously in effect until October 1st, Orban's chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, said the government would extend the ceiling price for mortgage rates, originally set to last until the end of the year. The ceiling price for mortgage rates, according to him, will be extended “for at least six months”.

“We estimate that as long as sanctions are in place, there is no real possibility of an improvement of”, Gulyas told the media.

The Orban government has also decided to launch a scheme to provide energy support to small businesses, covering half of the bill price hikes, said Economy and Development Minister Maron Nagy.

He said the government would also launch a scheme to support investments in small businesses, to enable them to improve efficiency in energy and cut spending.

Hungary, which has criticised EU sanctions against Russia, receives over 80 per cent of natural gas from Russia.