HUNGARY RAISES PRICES IN EFFORT TO CURB DEFICIT
  Hungary has announced sharp price
  increases for a range of food and consumer products as part of
  its efforts to curb a soaring budget deficit.
      The official MTI news agency said the government decided
  consumer price subsidies had to be cut to reduce state
  spending. From today the price of meat will rise by an average
  18 pct and that of beer and spirits by 10 pct, MTI said.
      The measures are also aimed at cooling an overheated
  economy, and could help dampen Hungarians' appetite for
  imported Western goods which consume increasingly expensive
  hard currency, the diplomats said.
      The diplomats also said, however, that they did not expect
  the kind of social unrest that followed sharp price rises in
  other East Bloc states, notably Poland.
      MTI said consumer goods will also become more expensive,
  with the price of refrigerators rising some five pct. It also
  announced a number of measures to ease hardship, including
  higher pensions and family allowances.
  

