Hungarian Inflation Soars in Political Headache for Orban

Hungarian inflation accelerated far more quickly than expected, bolstering the central bank’s hawkish pivot and morphing into a political headache for Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Consumer prices surged an annual 5.5% in January, the fastest pace in 13 months, from 4.6% in December, according to data published by the Hungarian statistics office on Tuesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey was 4.8%. Month-on-month, prices climbed 1.5%.