OREANDA-NEWS  Annual inflation in Hungary has accelerated for the third month in a row: in October it reached 2 percent, although in September it was 1.6 percent. This was reported by Bloomberg.

In turn, the Central Bank of Hungary continues to hold its key rate at 5.5 percent. The inflation target was lowered from 3 percent to 2.5 percent in September. Deutsche Bank believes that inflationary risks, including those related to the unstable global environment, are likely to prevent Hungary from resuming monetary policy easing until the second half of next year.

In October, food prices decreased by 1.1 percent year-on-year, and household electricity costs decreased by 4.3 percent compared to the same period last year, while natural gas prices fell by more than 11 percent. Services, on the contrary, rose in price by 5.2 percent.

In early November, the European country's main foreign ministry announced that Budapest was preparing to abandon Russian gas and, possibly, oil.