The primary objective of Magyar Nemzeti Bank is to achieve and maintain price stability. The central bank of Hungary defines its 3 per cent inflation target in terms of the consumer price index. However, this indicator is quite volatile, and many of its components are sensitive to temporary...

We show that in both time-dependent and state-dependent sticky price models, prices of sticky price products (i.e. whose price changes rarely) contain more information about medium term inflation developments than those of flexible price products (i.e. whose price changes frequently). We do this...

This article examines how the trade balance (or net exports) changed during the crisis. In the early-to-mid-2000s, Hungary ran a trade deficit as external indebtedness grew. Since the crisis, balance sheet adjustments by economic agents have substantially reduced imports for consumption and...

In the autumn of 2006 the Magyar Nemzeti Bank launched a series of research projects on the pricing of products and services with non-regulated prices, which is expected to last for one and a half years. Store-level price quotes used for the Hungarian CSO’s (Central Statistical Office)...

This paper uses Hungarian micro-CPI data between December 2001 and June 2007 to provide descriptive statistics of store-level pricing practices in Hungary. First we present simple descriptive statistics about the frequency and average size of price changes, and compare it with similar statistics...

Our paper aims to assess how the Magyar Nemzeti Bank’s communication affects financial asset prices. We find that the central bank plays the most important role in influencing long-term yields. The effect on the exchange rate is less pronounced, while short-term yields are influenced only by...

This paper analyses the development of the three segments of the interbank money markets in Hungary and the euro area: unsecured lending/deposit transactions, sale and repurchase agreements (repos) and FX swaps. Reviewing the experiences of some eurozone members the authors draw conclusions on...

Expectations of market participants play an important role in monetary policy making. The main reason for this is that expectations influence the behaviour of investors and prices in financial markets. In this article, we present two sources of information on the expectations of financial market...

Although in modern monetary economics it is usually assumed that inflation expectations play a prominent role when economic agents set prices and wages, the empirical evidence for this link is scarce. This paper aims to identify the effect of changes in inflation expectations on prices and wages...

In a normal economic cycle, monetary policy decisions are not influenced directly by the size of potential output. In making their decisions, central banks take into account the difference between potential and actual output, i.e. the size of the output gap, which shows the cyclical position of...