Government Puts a Cap on the Price of Basic Food Items

The government has decided on a food price freeze, with the prices of six products to be fixed from February 1 at the same level as on October 15 last year, the prime minister announced on Wednesday.

Viktor Orbán said following the cabinet meeting that the government had decided to intervene in the price of six products – granulated sugar, wheat flour, sunflower oil, pork legs, chicken breast and 2.8% cow's milk – because of the rise in food prices.

The Prime Minister stressed that, in addition to the virus, the government meeting also addressed the issue of price rises, as prices are rising throughout Europe due to the increase in energy prices.

According to him, Hungary would protect families. “We have managed to curb the rise in petrol prices, we have introduced an interest rate freeze on mortgages, and we have a policy of reducing the cost of energy, so Hungarian families are getting energy at a fixed price, and this protects them,” he said.

"Viktor Orbán's announcement is an admission that the Hungarian economy is in a tragic state. The miserable government that starts to deal with the price of goods in the last 12 weeks of its 12-year period of governing with a two-thirds majority must go," the candidate for prime minister by the united opposition, Péter Márki-Zay reacted to the news.

He added that the government is using price freezes instead of a responsible economic policy to deal with the galloping price rises, which is tantamount to a confession. In the event of a change of government, VAT on basic foodstuffs would be capped at 5%, he said.