Hungarian headline inflation rose to an annual 15.6% in August, in line with market expectations, boosted by higher food and consumer durables prices, the Central Statistics Office (KSH) said on Thursday.

Core inflation, calculated with a revised methodology, accelerated to 19% from 16.7% in July, sharply exceeding analysts' 17.8% forecast in a Reuters survey. As of April 2021, the KSH no longer includes alcohol and tobacco prices in its core inflation figure.

The National Bank of Hungary targets 3% headline inflation with a tolerance band of a percentage point on either side. Food prices rose by 30.9% year-on-year, while consumer durables prices increased by 14.8%. Services prices rose by 7.7%.

The KSH said the impact of recent cuts in household utility price subsidies would first show up in September data. INFLATION (% change) Aug 2022 July 2022 Aug 2021 Headline CPI m/m 1.8 2.3 0.2 Headline CPI y/y 15.6 13.7 4.9 Core CPI y/y 19.0 16.7 3.6 (Reporting by Gergely Szakacs and Anita Komuves)