Brutal inflation to come in Hungary?
An opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) official has insisted that higher household energy bills will feed into “brutal inflation” by the end of the year.
Referring to a portfolio.hu report, László Varjú, the leftist party’s deputy leader, told an online press briefing on Monday that it was likely that inflation had “jumped” to 13 percent in July, and the market expected the December price index swell to 16.5 percent.
Also, he cited g7.hu, an online business and finance outlet, in July as reporting annual food-price inflation of almost 35 percent. Varjú demanded the government help people with VAT and other tax reductions as well as subsidies.
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Parliament extraordinary session today lacks quorum
In the absence of the governing parties, the special session of parliament initiated by the opposition lacked a quorum. With speeches made before the planned debate, Monday’s session lasted for about three quarters of an hour.
The government information centre (KTK) said on Monday that government MPs would boycott a special session of parliament convened by the opposition, slamming the initiative as “lacking credibility”, insisting that opposition parties had “failed to support measures aimed at protecting Hungarian families during a war-time crisis”.
Six opposition parliamentary groups called for an special session of parliament to be convened on Aug. 8 to discuss their proposals to mitigate “the cost-of-living crisis” they say has gripped the country.
Representatives of Momentum, Democratic Coalition, Parbeszed, the Socialists, LMP and Jobbik told a joint press conference last week about their bill to withdraw changes to the tax on small businesses (kata) and keep the full cap on household energy bills and the price of basic foodstuffs in place, among other measures.
The KTK said in a statement that the opposition parties had “attacked” the government’s scheme to maintain a cap on household energy bills since its introduction, and “they would increase the corporate tax and personal income tax”. Furthermore, “they have strongly advocated the sanctions [against Russia], which are the primary cause of the energy price hikes”, the statement added.
“In light of this history, we consider [the opposition’s] initiative regarding the special meeting to lack credibility, so government MPs will not participate in it,” the statement said.
Source: MTI