Sugar, oil, flour, chicken breast: the Hungarian executive decreed a freeze on the prices of several foodstuffs popular with consumers in order to contain inflation. The Liberal Weekly HVG denounces an electoral measure two months before the legislative elections of April 3.
On January 12, the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, announced a freeze on the prices of sunflower oil, flour, granulated sugar, semi-skimmed milk, pork leg and chicken breast in order to stem the high inflation affecting the country in particular. The next day, chicken back joined the list of products which, at 1is February, will have to find their prices of October 15, 2021.
The Liberal Weekly HVG report an operation who threatens to “destroy the economy for political gain”, as Orbán seeks a fourth consecutive term on April 3. On the cover of its January 20 edition, the magazine presents the Magyar leader with a mischievous smile, dressed in an immaculate butcher’s apron and a cap “OV’22” (“Orbán Viktor 2022”), enthroned at the checkout of a supermarket, packing the products concerned (chicken breast excepted) in an electoral ballot box.
“The price freeze is not unprecedented in a market economy. But in Hungary, it only serves one purpose: keeping Viktor Orbán in power. The executive has simply ensured that the boost to consumers does not affect the coffers of the State and passes on the expected losses to other actors. For example, the owners of small businesses, who can play with inventory less than large retailers”, hits the cover story.
“Redistribution perverse”
The Magyar weekly considers that this measure, valid for three months and possibly subject to extension, neglects legitimacy and market developments. “Free lunch does not exist. The cheaper chicken back and ham will pay for itself when procuring other foodstuffs. The policy of perverse redistribution and electoral sharing of the Orbán government is essentially to disadvantage others”, criticize an editorial. While a vitriolic chronicle wonders:
Who will get the hot potato? The pig farmer? The meat processor? The wholesaler? All of us, because the price set by the state is only sustainable with poor quality imports? The shop ? Or will the government begin in its great kindness to compensate the affected sectors even if it means deepening the national debt even more?”
At the end of last year, the national-conservative Hungarian government had already decreed a cap on fuel prices at the pump and then a blocking of interest on mortgage loans to contain inflation.
Source
Launched ten years before the fall of the Wall by reformers open to liberalism, Weekly World Economy (HVG) (“World Economy Weekly”) is now the reference Magyar weekly. A fan of punchy blankets,
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