budapest aug 29 reuters  hungarian consumer and business confidence both deteriorated further in august a survey by think tank gki showed on monday with households confidence plunging to its lowest since april 2020 the first wave of the covid19 pandemic hungarian households turned gloomier about their financial prospects amid a surge in inflation and energy prices the gki consumer confidence index is in a freefall the thinktank said consumers inflationary expectations strengthened further in august after a pause in july gkis consumer confidence index plunged to minus 492 points from minus 417 in july and was down sharply from minus 17 in february the overall index which includes both households and businesses fell to minus 143 points from minus 94 in july the gki said companies plans to hike prices got a new impetus especially among industrial companies in august while more than 70 of retail sector firms said they planned to increase their prices with soaring energy costs and a weak forint the national bank of hungary nbh faces the challenge of fighting persistent inflation while maintaining momentum in the hungarian economy the central bank is expected to raise its base interest rate huinteci by 100 basis points to 1175 on tuesday with more hikes to come this year as inflation keeps rising deputy governor barnabas virag said earlier this month that inflation could peak later and at a higher rate around 18 to 19 than previously expected and start declining only from next year at a slow pace hungarian core inflation surged to an annual rate of 167 in july the highest in 25 years read more reporting by krisztina than editing by christian schmollinger