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Orban’s Ballot Win Followed a Record Spike in Hungarian Salaries

Shoppers inside the Grand Market Hall in Budapest. Surging wages are adding momentum to spiraling inflation.

Shoppers inside the Grand Market Hall in Budapest. Surging wages are adding momentum to spiraling inflation.

Photographer: Akos Stiller/Bloomberg
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Hungarian salaries increased by nearly a third after an election-year spending spree by Prime Minster Viktor Orban’s boosted already surging wages.

Gross monthly wages rose 31.7% annually in February to 545,965 forint ($1,568), the Budapest-based statistics office reported on Tuesday. The increase was the biggest on record, according to Bloomberg data going back to 1998.