MNB Assessment of Inflation Data for February 2026

Consumer prices in Hungary rose by 1.4% year-on-year in February 2026, according to a new flash analysis by the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) of inflation development.

Relative to the 2.1% observed in January, the annual growth rate of prices was down by 0.7 percentage points. Core inflation decreased to 0.6 percentage points and stood at 2.1%. Core inflation excluding indirect tax effects also fell to 2.1%.

Incoming inflation data was lower than the projection in the December inflation report, driven by more favorable changes in the price of food and market services than expected.

Except for fuels, the disinflation of all main product groups contributed to the decline in the annual consumer price index.

Within the central bank’s measures of underlying inflation developments capturing persistent inflationary trends, the inflation of sticky price products was down to 4.6% on a year-on-year basis. The core inflation excluding processed food decreased to 3.6%, the report says.

On a monthly basis, the price of the total consumer basket and the core inflation basket increased by 0.1%. In February, the monthly repricing was lower than the 2017-2020 average in the case of the representative consumer basket and core inflation. Month-on-month core inflation excluding processed food prices, which better reflect underlying developments, stood at 0.2%. MNB indicators calculated on an annualised 3-month-on-3-month comparison decreased for both inflation and core inflation.

As for the main product categories, the annual inflation of tradables declined to 2.1%. On a monthly basis, tradables prices decreased by 0.1%, which was in line with the 2017-2020 average for January repricings. Month-on-month, durables prices were up by 0.2%. The rise was primarily caused by changes in the price of second-hand passenger cars and jewellery. Non-durables prices declined by 0.2% compared to January.

The annual price index of market services declined to 5.2%. The decline in the annual price index was greatly supported by the base effects of the exceptionally high repricing in February 2025. Month-on-month, prices rose by 0.4%, which is more moderate than the average repricings that occurred between 2017-2020, as well as those observed in recent years. The increase in the price of catering services and health services contributed the most to the February repricing of the product group.