Stabilizálhatja-e a monetáris politika az élelmiszer-inflációt?

While optimal monetary policy is theoretically recognized to provide food price stability, the empirical evidence about this effect is limited, especially in the countries of the European Union and within this in Central and Eastern Europe. This paper investigates the role of monetary policy shocks on food inflation in Hungary over the period January 2007 to November 2022. Hungary is a good case study because of its higher than average share of food in the consumer basket in the EU. Using a quantile regression analysis, we find that neither monetary policy nor the exchange rate has an effect on food inflation across quantiles. However, inflation plays a significant role in driving food price increases. The global food price index increases food price inflation in the lower quantile. The results are robust to different specifications and measures of variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]