The European country with sky-high inflation at 25%

With double-digit inflation causing misery for millions in the UK, a similar story is being told all across Europe as governments simultaneously try and ease the cost of living crisis while also trying to rein in rampant price growth.

On Wednesday the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that inflation in the UK fell to 10.1% in March from 10.4% in February.

This was higher than economists had predicted and many reacted with alarm that the figure was still above 10%.

The growth in prices is being heavily influenced by the soaring cost of food, with the ONS saying they had increased 19.1% year-on-year.

Read more: Can you guess how much sugar has gone up in price?

Inflation remains stubbornly high in the UK and many have pointed to Brexit as a contributing factor with many Western European nations like France and Spain seeing their price growth fall rapidly.

But the story isn't true for the whole of the EU, with many nations suffering double-digit inflation and one seeing it surpass 20%

Hungary has an inflation rate of 25.6%, according to a recent Eurostat report.

The report said the average inflation rate across the EU was 8.3%, with Hungary way ahead of second place Latvia which has an inflation rate of 17.2%.

Inflation is also falling slower in Hungary than in the rest of the EU according to Eurostat.

While the EU average fell to 8.3% from 10% in January in Hungary it only fell from 26.2% to 25.6%.

Like the UK, the price rises are being driven by the soaring cost of food but in Hungary, the situation is far more difficult.

According to internal Hungarian data (which measures inflation differently from Eurostat) price of groceries rose by 44.0 per cent between January 2022 and January 2023.

Why is Hungary's inflation so high?

Several factors have led to Hungary's inflation rate being persistently higher than the rest of the EU.

Far-right prime minister Viktor Orban has blamed the sanctions placed on Russia and high energy prices.

He has often been reluctant to implement the sanctions demanded by the EU and Nato and has taken a friendlier tone towards Vladimir Putin than the rest of the West.

But economists in the country have said that while energy prices have been a factor other issues are at play.

Orban has been clashing with Hungary's central bank, which has doubled down on a "very disciplined and tight" policy with high-interest rates to try and rein in inflation.

Read more: Supermarkets say price falls are on the way but inflation still over 10%

Orban said that the central bank's hawkish measures would be "logical... if all inflation was of a monetary nature."

"But if the situation is that this inflation is principally due to an increase in international energy prices, and sanctions policy - at least half of it - then it is not for sure that the money supply in the economy needs to be reduced at this pace and to this extent. We need to talk about this."

The governor of the central bank disagrees with Orban and said inflation was being driven by tight labour markets, very high food price inflation and strong repricing of services by companies amid resilient demand.

Other issues are the Hungarian currency, the forint, has weakened against the euro in recent months making doing business both more attractive for many of its neighbours and more expensive for Budapest.

The government has also recently moved away from price caps on some key goods like fuel and sugar as retailers refused to sell below cost.

Without these caps, which kept inflation artificially lowered, the prices have shot up to the market rate.