The Hungarian central bank (NBH) rate-setters cut the base rate by 75 basis points, to 10.75 per cent, at their regular policy meeting on Tuesday, 19 December. The scale of the reduction was the same as at the previous rate-setting meeting in November.

This is the third consecutive interest rate cut from the central bank. The last time the rate was decreased in three policy meetings in a row was in July 2020, when it was set at a record-low 0.6 per cent. Three years of continuous raises followed, and the base interest rate was as high as 13 per cent in September 2023.

The recent interest rate cut will greatly help people who are looking to take out a mortgage, a business loan, or invest some money in stocks listed on the Budapest Stock Exchange.

The bank’s Monetary Council also decided to lower the symmetric interest rate corridor in tandem, bringing the overnight deposit rate to 9.75 per cent and the overnight collateralized loan rate to 11.75 per cent.

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Sources: MTI/Hungarian Conservative