New government system fundamentally changes shopping in Hungary from July

The government announced this March that it would launch an online price monitoring system to fight against soaring inflation. The scheme details were published in a government decree yesterday. The inflation in Hungary is still at the top in the European Union at 25.6 percent. Latvia comes after Hungary, but the rate is much lower there, “only” 17.2 percent.

According to telex.hu, the government created a separate working group to establish a so called online price-monitoring system against inflation. The scheme will kick off on 1 July in Hungary, and big supermarket chains are its targets like Aldi, Lidl, Spar or Penny. According to the new regulation, supermarkets that had a net income above HUF 100 billion (EUR 270 million) in 2022 would be subject of compulsory data reports.

Based on the government’s decree, the online price monitoring system will follow the daily and customer loyalty prices of the target products at each supermarket. First, the database will contain the prices of 60 target product categories. That will include pork leg, white bread, 1.5 percent ESL milk, Trappista cheese, idared apples, sausages, margarine, butter, and spaghetti. They will not consider reduced prices because the product’s shorter than 72h expiration date.

Shopping changes in Hungary: you will compare prices online first

Each company will upload all relevant prices by the end of the preceding day. Furthermore, stores will have to submit the target product prices back a year until August. Moreover, stores not subject to the scheme may join the initiative voluntarily.

The Hungarian Competition Authority will operate the database, telex.hu wrote. The government aims to provide an online database for each customer, allowing them to compare prices transparently. As a result, the cabinet hopes they can baulk overpricing and reveal how retailers are pricing. Moreover, they would like to boost competition in the market. As a result, prices may start to decrease in Hungary.

The government calculates a quickly decreasing inflation during the summer. By the end of the year, they calculate with a one-digit rate only. Telex wrote that in March, Hungary’s inflation reached 25.2 percent. That rate was 42.6 percent concerning food compared with last March. Meanwhile, household energy prices rose by 43.1 percent.

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