Inflation is pinching Hungary’s popular Christmas markets. $23 sausage dog, anyone?

By JUSTIN SPIKE
Associated Press

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A cost-of-living crisis in Hungary is on display at the country’s popular Christmas markets. Some locals fear the $23 sausage hot dogs and $18 stuffed cabbage are pricing them out of the festivities in a country where the median net wage is below $900 per month. Hungary has had the highest inflation in the European Union for most of 2023, peaking at over 25%. Food prices have seen a dramatic increase. Hungary began the year with grocery prices surging nearly 50% compared to a year earlier, according to the EU statistical office Eurostat.