Thousands protest against Orban’s government, ‘runaway inflation’

BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Thousands of Hungarians, including teachers and students, marched in Budapest on Sunday to protest the government, demanding higher wages for teachers and curbing the steep inflation that is hurting their incomes.

Hours after nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban promised to maintain economic stability and keep household utility bills capped, demonstrators crossed a bridge over the Danube and chanted “Orban is lost” and “There is no teacher”. Without it, there is no future,” he said. The EU is in an economic crisis.

But participants in a series of anti-government protests recently said his government had let teachers down by giving them meager salaries, causing inflation, which topped 20% in September and is still on the rise. He said it was getting intolerable.

“I am here … I need change for my children,” said Gyongyi Bereczky, a postman who joined the protest for the first time. “This runaway inflation… I can’t save any more. Prices are so high that I can’t make ends meet.”

Teachers and students have protested for higher wages, solutions to the growing teacher shortage and the right to strike.read more read more

As the country marked the anniversary of the 1956 uprising against Soviet rule, Orban, who was re-elected for a fourth consecutive term in April, said early Sunday that he would challenge war in neighboring Ukraine next year. rice field.

“War in the East, economic crisis in the West,” Orban told supporters in Zalaegerseg, about 200 kilometers west of Budapest, adding that there had been “a financial crisis and a recession in the EU.”

“In 1956, we learned that difficult times require unity…we will keep the economy stable, jobs for everyone, caps on energy prices. I can protect it and my family will never be alone.”

Gas and electricity caps have been a key pillar of Orban’s policy, but this year, high energy prices have caused the costs of the scheme to skyrocket, straining the state’s budget. The government was forced to remove high-use household caps from August 1.

The budget law, approved in July, forecasts growth of 4.1% next year and inflation of 5.2%, so it plans to revise its 2023 budget in December. Economic growth next year is now expected to slow to 1%.

The forint plummeted to record lows earlier this month, forcing the central bank to raise interest rates in an urgent move.

Reporting by Krisztina Than, additional reporting by Krisztina Fenyo Editing by William Maclean

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