The government is waging a battle against inflation through measures such as energy price protection, price freezes, recently raised mandatory price reductions to 15 per cent, and online price monitoring. These measures have proven effective as inflation has decreased by a third since the beginning of the year, and it could potentially drop to single digits by October, according to a Thursday statement by the Ministry of Economic Development (GFM).
For the government, the successful fight against inflation is a key issue as it aims to restore the previous trend of continuous wage growth, which was disrupted by the protracted war and the misguided sanctions. Soaring inflation has resulted in a decrease in real wages from September 2022 to the present day, a situation not seen for many years, the GFM acknowledged.
The government promptly responded to the challenges stemming from the sanction-induced inflation. Thanks to the anti-inflation measures implemented and significant wage increases, real wage growth can be achieved in Hungary starting from August. There is a strong chance that the purchasing power of wages will not decrease annually but rather increase.
The Ministry of Economic Development pointed out that it is a significant achievement that over the past ten years, the purchasing power of wages has consistently increased each year. In comparison to 2010, by the end of the last year, real earnings were over 70 per cent higher overall. In 2024, through restoring growth and drastically reducing inflation, the opportunity to reinstate the previous trend of annual real wage growth of over five per cent on average can be regained.
The ministry also highlighted that the number of those employed has increased by one million since 2010. According to the latest data, nearly 4.8 million people are employed in Hungary, while the number of registered job seekers has never been this low. The government’s primary goal remains unchanged: to ensure the protection of families and the long-term preservation of real wage growth while maintaining job security, the GFM confirmed.
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Source: Hungarian Conservative/MTI
