HUNGARY ENDS FOOD RATIONING, RAISES PAY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700060223-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 6, 2011
• Sequence Number: 223
• Publication Date: May 12, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

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INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD t:0.
COUNTRY` Hungary
DATE OF
CLASSIFIC~ATgION ~RTEyST~RIrQCgTMIDp~I~
CEPITRAL$ELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
HOW
PUBLISHED ~uY newspaper
DATE
PUBLISHED 2 Dec 1951 - 19 Jan 1952
LANGUAGE IIungarian
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1. t. e.. l1 Y!l1.Y Yl~Nl, m1Wl~IY10l el 111!!l,unlo!
N m COmlm I! Yf ~Y... r. .............. ~~__ ._ __
Szabad Nep.
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT N0.
HURGARY ENDS FOOD RATIONING RAISffi PAY
bECRSE ENDS RATIONING, RAISES WAGES AND PENSIONS -- Budapest, Bzabad AeP,
2 Dec 51
On 1 December, the Council ,if Ministers issued a resolution terminating
the ration system for all farm products except meat and lard, and increasing
wages and prices. The main provisions of the decree are given below.
Rnd of Rationing
Beginning 2 December, bread, flour, sugar, soap, milk, butter, and aLt
industrial products may be purchased without coupons or restrictions of any
kind. The rationing of meat and fat will be terminated not later than 29
February 1952? Controls on the sale, purchase, and transportation of farm
products will be lifted on 2 December 1951, subject to the following condi-
tlona;
Producers who have fulfilled their compulsory delivery obligations will
De permitted to sell bread grain to any purc!iaser. The purchase of bread
grain for personal use will be free. Restrictions on the transportation of
bread grain will be rescinded. Possessors of bread grain will be permitted
to have it ground and to transport the resulting Plour xithout restriction.
Flour made from grain held by the original producer may be freely sold to
cons:mers. Only enterprises and establishments specially designated by state
authorities will be authorized to purchase bread grain or flour for resale or
processing.
Producers who have fu1fi11eC their delivery ubligations are also author-
ized to sell barley, oats, millet, buckwheat, and green fodder to any purchaser
and to mill and transport these commodities freely. Corn mny be freely
sold, milled, and transported by producers who have fv'~filled their delivery
obligations in al`_ towns, districts, and countries which, in turn, have ful-
filled their quotas. Producers may likewise freely sell and transport their
potatoes, onions, and winter apples after fulfilling their delivery obligations.
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Wine may be freely sold and transported by the producer, attar tulfill-
ment of deifirory~obiigatione and with due observation of the taz provisions,
in lots of 25 litere~or more: There is no restriction on the Bale and trane-
portation of honey, nuts, and sorghum by the producer. Poultry, eggs, milk,
aed dairy profiute may be freoly sold and transported by the producer after
fultillment of his delivery obligations. All commodities, xhoee sale ie per-
missible without restriction may be transported as hand luggage in unlimited
quantities, eub~ect to the traffic regulations of the transportation enter-
prieee.
Towne and inhabitants of tome which grossly violate the delivery decrees
may be deprived by the Minister of Food of the free-sale privilege, pending
f~.efillment of their respective delivery quotas. Merchants are permitted to
purchase farm products for resale or processing only by the authorization of
the Minister of Commerce r the Minister of Food. Such purchases moat be ef-
fected in the tome n}~pu:s 'in the permission.
The foregoing provisions regulating purchase, sale, and transportation
of farm products will remain in effect until 30 June 1952 for grain crops and
until 1 September 1952 for root crops and xine. Renexal of these provisions
after the above a'atee x111 depend on the progress of 1952 farm deliveries.
Consumers' Prices
Piicee for foods xhich the consumers could, up to nox, purchase both
against ration coupons end in the free market must be established at a level
between the rationed and free market prices. The prices for the most impor-
tant commodities are as folloxs:
Forints
~
per kK. unless other)
3e,~ixhite bread
2.80
Fine flour
4.60
Granulated sugar
11.20
A Lars
35?~
? ~ Cooking oil, per liter
24.00
Beef, standard cut
20.50
Pork, standard,cut
26.40
Bologna sausage
30.00
Butter vit'~
78-percent fat content
66.00
Butter xith
82-percent fat content
72.00
Unpasteurized milk, per liter
3.00
Pasteurized milk, per liter
3.60
Prices for other foods previously eub~ect to rationing must be established in
proportion to the prices listed in the foregoing. The above prices for meats
and fate will remain .in effect even after the rationing of meats and fats has
been.diecontinued.
To avoid disparity, the prices for clothing and certain other industrial
products, long-distance passenger and taxi tares, ae xell ae the parcel post
tariff, x111 be raised. The prices of xorkers' end students' xeekly and
monthly commutation tickets x111 be increased by approximately 25 percent.
Since an enterprise is permitted to pace on to its employees only part of the
higher operating costa o` its cafeterir., prices x111 be increased by-60 fillers
for breakfast, one forint far dinner, and 80 fillers for supper. The differ-
ence between higher food prices and the income of the cafeteria moat be borne
by the enterprise.
RffiTRICTSD
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apices, bakery goods and noodles, chocolate products and candy, medicines,
cosmetics (except soap), radio sets, light bulbs, eyeglasses and other opti-
cal products. paper products and stationery, furniture, books, nxxspapera
and periodicals, fuels, matches, cigarettes, cigarette paper and tobacco
products, nonleather sporting goods, fertilizers, and plant sprays (except-
ing copper sulphate).
Prices far the following services x111 also remain unchanged: rent,
heating, electricity, gas, water and sewerage, urban transportation, hair
dressing, tailoring and all other work perfomed by artisans, admission to
public baths, motion picture theaters and sporting establ?.ehmentb, telephone
and telegraph, etc.
Pay Increases;
To counteract the effects of price increases, wages and salaries must
be raised, as of 1 December 1951 as follows: The wages of all xorkers em-
ployed on a piece or tune basis, with the exception of certain categories
specified below, as well ea the pay of salaried employees receiving 1,000
forints or lees per month, will be increased by 21 percent. Salaried em-
. ployees will receive an increase of 18 percent for monthly salaries of 1,001
to 2,000 forints and 15 percent for over 2,000 forints.
The exceptions noted above apply to the following categories: (1) Agri-
cultural workers, both on state and privately owned farms, will receive a
15 percent increase in basic wage, in view of the fact that they are paid
partly.in farm products. (2) The basic wages of apprentices who, for the
moat part, receive free room, board, and clothing from the state, will be
increased by 10 percent.
Compensation for the room and board of resident students at industrial
schools x111 be increased by 5 forints per month in the first semester, 10
forints in the second, 15 forints in the third, and 20 forints in the fourth
semester. Premiums, with certain exceptions, as well as bonuses will be in-
c~eased 1n proportion to the increases enumerated in the foregoing. The pay
of domestics will be increased by 10 percent. Allowances for food on offi-
c1s1 missions, both in Hungary and abroad, will be raised by 25 percent.
Pensions paid by the state or by individual enterprises, with the ex-
ception of agricultural social security annuities, will be increased uni-
.*.ormly by 60 forints per month, while agricultural social security annuities
will be increased by 40 forints per month. Widows' annuities from the same
so+u~ces will be increased by 30 forints and 20 Porinta per month, respec-
tively. Annuities of orphans will be raised uniformly by 30 forints per
mono and the alloxances of disabled veterans by 20 forints per month. Sick-
ness, disability, and aid age benefi~ payments dur, after 30 November, sa xell
as scholarship allowancee, will be raised in proportion to the foregoing pqy
and annuity increases. Psnlisted members of the armed forces on active duty
who receive complete maintenance will be given a 10 percent pay increase.
To facilitate the transition to the new regulations, all employees of
the government as well as of cooperative and private enterprises will receive,
between 5 and 12 December, a lump sum of 10 percent of their actual earnings
during October. This regulation does not apply to domestics and students at
industrial schools. pdJuetment due for December to pensioners, annuitants,
and disabled veterans will be paid between 4 and 20 December. Teachers, rail-
road and postal employees, etc., whose pay was rc,!sed by a previous decree of
the Council of Ministers, as of 1 January 1952, x111 receive a raise on th:?ir
increased salaries..
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The monthly allowances for families with children were increased as
follows;
No of
Children
Old Alloxance
forinta ~
New Allowance
forinta
1
lg
30
2
75
4
66
135
6
130
210
~
168
4
7
8
uo
525
2 0
~
~
306
810
lO
306
975
F~uY Allowances
ldiecellaneoua Provisions
State and private enterprises, producers' cooperatives, and industrial
cooperatives are required to pay to the government the difference in the
prices of ggoda in stock resulting from the price increase. Small private
merchants and artisans are permitted to pay in installments.
Since prices for ready-to-wear children's clothing will bt +mchanged,
while textile goods prices x11.1 be increased, and the prices foi ready-to-
wear clothes will, on the whole, rise less than prices for textile goods,
the price difference will be refunded to the industrial cooperatives by the
purchasing state eaterpriae.
Where prices are calculatr~ .n the basis of operating expenditures and
profit margins, tie increased cunt cannot be passed on to the consumer. ps
a result, operating expenditures and profit margins moat be reduced.
A price lint must be published on 2 December 1951 covering all consumers'
goods whose prices are effected by this decree. The prices of all ?~ommoditles
not included in the price list to be published on 2 December will remain un-
changed.
Price increases which do not conform to the price list mentioned above
constitute a crime against the working population and are subaect to appro-
priate sanctioae. Execution of the present decree is the reeponeibility of
the appropriate ministries and?the president of the National Planning Office.
DROP IlY FRSB MARKED PRICE CH+ LSSEN"IAL FOOD -- Budapest, Szabad Nep, 5 Dec 51
Aa a result of the government's decree, the price of several important
food items has dropped. The price of lard fell from 80 to 65 forinta per
kilogram. The workers, however, are waiting for even lgwer prices before
buying. The pr~.ce of flour has dropped'to 4.60 for'nts; eggs sell at 2.40 -
2.50 forinta, (previously 3 forinta) per dozen.
Some items sell below government prices on the free market. gor examplq
the government price of batter is 66 forinta per kilo~am, while the market
price is 60-62 forinta. The government list price of sour cream is 17..forinte
per liter and the free price is 16 forinta.
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STAT
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r
R~IICE FBA 1fAR1~T PRICE OF LARD -- Budapest, 8zabad fteg, 19 Jsn 52
Since 1 Deces~ber 1951, when the goverment leeued s resolution terminat-
i ag the rhtion?systea, the price of lard on the free market has been reduced
several tiaes. Beginning 18 Janu~uy, lard will be Bold at 41 fo^ints, in-
stead of the previous 45 forints.
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.~
STAT