Hungarian Forint (HUF) Data Coverage: Indicators, Sources and Release Times

Quick answer

FXMacroData serves 7 Hungarian forint series from the production catalogue: the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB) base rate and a risk-free rate derived from it, CPI, industrial producer prices, retail sales volume, average gross earnings and a monthly trade-weighted index. The policy series come from the MNB and the economic statistics from the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH).

It is a compact set built around the two forces that move EUR/HUF most: MNB rate decisions and inflation. Each release carries its announcement timestamp, including the 14:00 Budapest rate decisions.

This guide describes each HUF series, its publisher, its release time in Budapest and UTC, and how traders use it in EUR/HUF and USD/HUF. The catalogue's producer price, retail and earnings histories start in 2022, so long-run backtests should lean on CPI (from 2017) and the base rate (from 1990).

Who publishes Hungarian forint data

Magyar Nemzeti Bank. Hungary's central bank sets the base rate through its Monetary Council, which holds eight rate-setting meetings a year. The MNB targets consumer price inflation of 3 percent with a tolerance band of plus or minus 1 percentage point, and the forint floats freely, so the base rate is the main lever on the currency.

Exchange rate regime. Hungary is an EU member outside the euro area and outside ERM II, with no target date for adopting the euro. The forint floats and the MNB has no exchange rate target, but it has repeatedly pointed to the forint's level and volatility as an input to its decisions, because a weaker forint passes through quickly into Hungarian inflation.

Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH). The KSH publishes the consumer price index, industrial producer prices, retail trade and earnings statistics. FXMacroData reads these from the KSH's STADAT tables.

Each observation is stored with the publisher's series description and an announcement_datetime, and new releases typically reach the API within seconds of official publication (see release speed).

HUF indicators covered

These are the 7 series listed at /v1/data_catalogue/huf. The slug in brackets is the indicator value used in API calls.

Policy and rates

• MNB base rate (policy_rate): one row per Monetary Council decision, holds included, with history back to 1990. The row date is the day the rate takes effect, the day after the Tuesday decision; announcement_datetime records the decision itself.
• Risk-free rate (risk_free_rate): derived from the MNB base rate, with one print per Monetary Council decision. It is the same rate as policy_rate, not an independent overnight market fixing, and is provided so that cross-currency models that expect a risk-free series find one for HUF.

Inflation

• CPI inflation (inflation): year-on-year change in the KSH consumer price index, monthly, available from 2017. This is the number the MNB's 3 percent target refers to.
• Industrial producer prices (ppi): year-on-year change in producer prices for total industry, from 2022. Hungarian producer prices are highly sensitive to energy costs and to the exchange rate itself.

Activity and labour

• Retail sales volume (retail_sales): year-on-year change in the unadjusted volume of retail sales, from 2022, a read on household demand.
• Average gross monthly earnings (wages): the level of average gross earnings of full-time employees, in forint per person per month, from 2022. Fast nominal wage growth has been a recurring source of inflation pressure in Hungary.

External

• Trade-weighted index (trade_weighted_index): a monthly trade-weighted index of the forint (2020=100), which separates forint-specific moves from swings in the euro or the dollar.

HUF release timing

KSH releases are at 08:30 Budapest time and MNB decisions at 14:00. Hungary (Europe/Budapest) follows central European daylight saving, so the UTC column shows summer time (CEST, UTC+2) first and winter time (CET, UTC+1) second.

The 14:00 decision time falls in the European afternoon, so EUR/HUF reacts in full London liquidity; the MNB's statement and the press conference that follows often move the forint more than the decision itself. The release calendar lists upcoming MNB and KSH dates in your time zone.

Worked example: the August 2026 CPI

The KSH published August 2026 consumer prices on Tuesday 8 September 2026 at 08:30 Budapest time. This request returns the release:

curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" "https://api.fxmacrodata.com/v1/announcements/huf/inflation?start_date=2026-09-01"

The newest row in the response (abridged to the core fields):

{
  "date": "2026-08-31",
  "val": 1.3,
  "announcement_datetime": 1788849000,
  "previous_value": 1.2,
  "previous_date": "2026-07-31"
}

val is CPI inflation of 1.3 percent year on year for August, up slightly from 1.2 percent in July, and announcement_datetime 1788849000 is 06:30:00 UTC, which is 08:30 CEST. A reading below the bottom of the MNB's 2 to 4 percent tolerance band is the kind of print that shapes expectations for the next Monetary Council meeting; pairing it with /v1/announcements/huf/policy_rate shows the real base rate the forint is offering.

How traders use HUF data

One historical caution: in 2022 and 2023 the MNB ran an effective policy rate above the base rate through a one-day deposit tender, so the base rate alone understated how tight policy was in that period.

Carry against the euro

The forint is a regional carry currency. The gap between the MNB base rate and the ECB deposit facility rate (/v1/announcements/eur/policy_rate) is the core of the EUR/HUF carry trade. A narrowing gap through MNB cuts removes support; a widening gap or a pause in easing tends to support the forint.

Real rates after each CPI print

Subtract year-on-year CPI from the base rate to get the ex-post real policy rate. A high real rate gives the MNB room to cut without hurting the forint much; a low or negative real rate leaves the currency exposed when global risk appetite fades.

Decision-day event studies

Use announcement_datetime, not date, as the event time for MNB decisions, because the row date is the effective day after the decision. Compare each decision with previous_value to classify it as a cut, hike or hold, and measure the EUR/HUF reaction over the following hours.

Wages and price pressure

Average gross earnings growth and producer prices are leading signals for core inflation. When both run hot, the MNB has tended to stay cautious on easing, which supports the forint's carry.

Separating forint risk from euro moves

Use the trade-weighted index alongside EUR/HUF and USD/HUF. If the forint weakens on its trade-weighted measure as well as against the euro, the driver is Hungarian; if it only moves against the dollar, it is a broad euro or dollar story.

Related pages

• Hungary central bank guide: MNB base rate and HUF
• EUR/HUF dashboard
• USD/HUF dashboard
• Release calendar
• FXMacroData data coverage across all 22 currencies