At an extraordinary government press briefing on Wednesday, chief of the Prime Minister’s Office Gergely Gulyás said that the government has made a commitment to push inflation down to the single digits before the end of this year, which is still a realistic undertaking despite the difficulties.
‘It might be achieved in November, but, as also suggested by forecasts, we can certainly deliver on this commitment by December,’ Gulyás said, adding that ‘there are some worrying signs which are related primarily to the fact that fuel prices are now higher than they were before’.
He attributed the soaring fuel prices to the five-fold increase in the transit fees of fuel imported via Ukrainian pipelines:
‘Soaring fuel prices the past one month have alone increased inflation by a half per cent.’
Regarding the fact that a European Commission ban imposed on Ukrainian grain imports in five neighbouring countries would expire on 15 September, Gulyás added that if the EC does not extend the ban, the government
will be forced to introduce measures within its own competence.
‘We are again asking the EC…to understand the rationale behind the decision and extend the current import ban’, he said, adding that it would be best to find a solution that meets the original goal, which was to help African countries suffering from starvation, instead of damaging European agricultural markets. Gulyás also said that there are serious debates about whether Ukrainian grain meets European quality standards.
Gulyás also noted that in response to suggestions from the Fidesz parliamentary group, the government has reassessed its earlier decision on solar panels, changing the date from when the new EU regulations apply.
Referring to the Fifth Budapest Demographic Summit to be held on Thursday and Friday this week, Gulyás outlined that Hungary made great progress in terms of demographic growth, however, ‘we are not yet where we would like to be’. He added that the total fertility rate (TFR) was 1.23 in 2010, which went up to 1.59 by the end of 2021.
This represented a 25.6 per cent increase, the largest in the EU over the past decade.
Gulyás also admitted that there are difficulties Hungary is facing such as the number of women of child-bearing age on the decrease, which makes it all the more important that family policy measures remain effective. He also highlighted that the government will soon replace some of the abolished family programmes. The government is introducing new family policy measures next year that serve the country’s demographics targets and also help people acquire a home, he explained.
Government Spokesperson Alexandra Szentkirályi congratulated to Hungary’s cave rescue team for a ‘world-famous achievement’ that was also contributed to by government agencies. She reminded that the cave rescue team had been contacted on 2 September concerning an emergency situation in southern Turkey involving a US national stuck in a cave at a depth of 1,000 metres.
‘It tells a lot about the preparedness and attitude of the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service that the European organisation of cave rescue services which coordinated the operations found them to have the fastest mobilizable medical team, able not only to descend into an extreme depth but to also work there’, she added.
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Sources: Hungarian Conservative/MTI
