Hungarian inflation picks up in March

BUDAPEST: Hungarian inflation accelerated to 4.5 percent in March from 4.1 percent the previous month, driven by rising fuel and food prices, official data showed Tuesday.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose by 1.1 percent in March from February, much faster than a 0.4-percent increase the previous month, the national statistics office KSH said in a statement.

That was the steepest monthly rise since January 2010, the statisticians calculated.

Inflation has been slowly picking up since the beginning of the year.

Nevertheless, according to the Hungarian central bank's latest forecasts, published in March, inflation will average 4.0 percent on a 12-month basis over the whole of this year, down from 4.9 percent in 2010.