From September 2023 onwards the Bank will publish a Flash analysis on inflation developments on monthly frequency, at 10 am on the day the consumer price index is released by the Central Statistical Office (CSO). The data publications will be accompanied by short descriptive summaries.
The MNB attaches a high priority to sharing information underlying its decisions as transparently and early as possible with the professional community. Increased transparency may help further improve the predictability of the Bank’s decisions for market participants. Consistent with this principle, the Magyar Nemzeti Bank is publicly making available analyses of incoming monthly inflation data as well as the extent of transitory effects and expected medium-term inflationary developments on a monthly basis.
Since February 2013, the Bank has regularly published its own measures of underlying inflation, on the business day following the official release by the CSO. In order to improve the provision of information to the professional community, from September 2023 a Flash analysis on inflation developments will be published on the Bank’s website at 10 am on the day the official consumer price index is released. In addition, the underlying indicators will be accompanied by a short descriptive summary. In addition to providing a factual description of inflation trends, the analyses will identify and highlight, if necessary, transitory effects in sub-markets potentially making it more difficult to form a judgement on underlying inflation developments.
It is important to note in the context of the data publication that the consumer price index calculated by the CSO is the general measure of inflation, in line with international practice. In addition to this measure, the CSO also calculates and publishes the measure of core inflation. The MNB produces its own measures of underlying inflation using the series released by the CSO and its own methodology. Accordingly, the measures published by the MNB are not meant to be alternative consumer price statistics; rather, they produce indicators relevant for monetary policy from data published by the CSO.
In order to ensure easier access to data, the measures of underlying inflation will be permanently available to the public on the Bank’s website.
Consistent with its statutory price stability objective, the MNB’s inflation target remains 3% as measured by the twelve-month increase in the consumer price index published by the CSO. There is no direct relationship between the level of measures of underlying inflation and the MNB’s inflation target defined in terms of the consumer price index.