Central Bank Base Rate in Hungary
The Central Bank Base Rate ended 2022 at 13.00%, up from the 2.40% end-2021 value and higher than the reading of 3.00% a decade earlier. For reference, the average Central Bank Base Rate in Eastern Europe was 8.40% by the end of 2022. For more interest rate information, visit our dedicated page.
Hungary Interest Rate Chart
Note: This chart displays Policy Interest Rate (%) for Hungary from 2024 to 2014.
Source: Macrobond.
Hungary Interest Rate Data
2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Central Bank Base Rate (%, eop) | 0.60 | 2.40 | 13.00 | 10.75 | 6.50 |
3-Month Interbank Rate (%, eop) | 0.75 | 4.21 | 16.18 | 9.96 | 6.50 |
10-Year Bond Yield (%, eop) | 2.08 | 4.51 | 8.98 | 5.86 | 6.55 |
Central Bank keeps rates unchanged in April
Latest decision: At its meeting on 29 April, the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) decided to leave all policy rates unchanged, with the base rate remaining at 6.50%—where it has been since September 2024. Prior to that, the Bank had lowered the base rate by 650 basis points from October 2023 to September.
Elevated uncertainty and high inflation drive hold: The key domestic factors that dissuaded the Bank from renewing its easing cycle were inflation above the 2.0–4.0% target and elevated economic uncertainty stemming from global tariffs. On the latter, the Bank commented that “risks to the path of the inflation projection have increased due to the different timing and opposite direction of the effects of tariff announcements.”
Rate cuts could resume later this year: The Bank didn’t give explicit guidance on future interest rate movements. Most panelists see interest rate cuts between now and end-2025, though several see rates on hold given that inflation is forecast to average above target throughout this year.
Panelist insight: Erste Bank’s Orsolya Nyeste said: “General uncertainties suggest maintaining a stability-oriented approach. However, we think that possible easing steps of major and other regional central banks may create room for cautious rate cuts later in the year, depending on inflation developments.” In contrast, ING analysts held a more hawkish view: “We expect the central bank to leave rates unchanged for the whole of this year, and we may see the first rate cut only at the beginning of next year. Inflation did show a downside surprise in March compared to market expectations, but this was in line with the Central Bank’s forecast.”
How should you choose a forecaster if some are too optimistic while others are too pessimistic? FocusEconomics collects Hungarian interest rate projections for the next ten years from a panel of 25 analysts at the leading national, regional and global forecast institutions. These projections are then validated by our in-house team of economists and data analysts and averaged to provide one Consensus Forecast you can rely on for each indicator. By averaging all forecasts, upside and downside forecasting errors tend to cancel each other out, leading to the most reliable interest rate forecast available for Hungarian interest rate.
Download one of our sample reports to visualize what a Consensus Forecast is and see our Hungarian interest rate projections.
Want to get access to the full dataset of Hungarian interest rate forecasts? Send an email to info@focus-economics.com.
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