Hungarian government to oblige supermarkets to launch promotions

The Hungarian government's regular, weekly press briefing was held on Thursday by Gergely Gulyás, Minister of the Prime Minister's Office, and Government Spokesperson Alexandra Szentkirályi. Below are the main points addressed.

At the beginning of the briefing, Gergely Gulyás announced that the government has extended the price freezes until 30 June. In recent months, the Chamber of Agriculture and the governor of the Central Bank have both expressed their strong disapproval of the government's steps taken to curb inflation, including the introduced price caps.

Mandatory promotions

The government will oblige supermarkets to announce promotions, government spokesperson Alexandra Szentkirályi informed today. Products will be divided into 20 categories (meat, vegetables, etc.) and at least one product in each of the categories will have to be on sale, with the range of products on sale changing weekly.

The products on sale will have to be at least 10% cheaper than their average price in the 30 days preceding the promotion, and stores will be required to do this on a weekly basis. The promotion must not be applied to products with price caps. The measure will be introduced no later than 1 June, but the details are still being finalised. The regulation will mainly apply to bigger stores, not to the smaller ones.

On inflation, the government spokeswoman said that although there is still work to be done, she believes inflation in Hungary peaked in January. As long as the war in Ukraine and the sanctions continue, high inflation will remain with us. Brussels, on the other hand, keeps imposing more and more sanctions. Interesetingly enough, Hungary still “boasts” the highest inflation in the EU, and in spite of the sanctions, several EU countries have already managed to reach the Hungarian government's targeted single-digit inflation.

Ukrainian grain import ban

Gulyás said that the reason why the government banned imports of several agricultural products from Ukraine until 30 June, was to protect the interests of Hungarian farmers and consumers. It will still be possible to transport said products through Hungary, but these transit shipments will be "sealed" at the border, and it will be possible to track them throughout the country, with "live force", Gulyás said.

On speaking to fake news outlets

In the past, Viktor Orbán and several members of his government have repeatedly said that they will not give interviews to "fake news" media, thus refusing interview requests from several outlets. As the American Fox News has to pay $787.5 million for spreading fake news, the question was asked whether members of the Hungarian government will continue to give them interviews in the future? (Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, for example, likes to give them interviews, and Viktor Orbán's political director, Balázs Orbán, has just given an interview to the channel's Tucker Carlson on Wednesday.) Gulyás' answer was that he has no pending interview requests at the moment.