Hungarian inflation now more than two and a half times the EU average at 26.2

Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, published the inflation data for January 2023 on Thursday. The picture is looking increasingly encouraging for the EU average. Average inflation in the EU has fallen for the third month in a row, to just 10 percent. The situation is even better in the euro area, where the average was 8.7 percent in January compared with the same period last year.

However, as we could already see from KSH (Hungarian Central Statistical Office) data two weeks ago, inflation continued to rise in Hungary throughout January. According to Eurostat data

Hungarian inflation rose from 25 percent in December to 26.2 percent, which is more than two and a half times the EU average.

The only good news is that for the first time since October, the rate of acceleration has slowed. While from November to December it was 1.9 percent higher, from December to January it had already recovered to 1.2 percent, the same as in October and November. The graph below shows the data well:

Luxembourg has the lowest inflation rate (5.8), having pushed Spain (5.9) off the imaginary inflation throne. At the other end of the scale, Hungary continues to lead the way with confidence. It is followed by Latvia (21.4) and the Czech Republic (19.1), which has been the fastest declining country last month.

The Czech Republic saw inflation rise at the fastest pace from December to January, by 2.3% to be precise, while Belgium and the Netherlands saw the fastest rate of decline, down 2.8% and 2.6% respectively compared to the previous month. Other than in Hungary, inflation rose in nine Member States in January, a significant increase compared to three in December, but even with this, the EU average still decreased.