UPDATE 1-Hungary should have single-digit CPI by year-end, new cbanker says

(Adds more comments, detail) BUDAPEST, March 27 (Reuters) - Inflation in Hungary should fall to single digits by the end of 2023, Eva Buza, a nominee to the central bank's rate-setting Monetary Council, said on Monday, striking a cautious tone at a parliamentary confirmation hearing. The National Bank of Hungary is widely expected to keep its base rate steady at 13% on Tuesday, a Reuters poll forecast, with analysts paring back rate cut views by the end of 2023 amid high inflation and turmoil in the global banking sector. All 16 economists polled between March 20 and 24 said the NBH would leave the European Union's highest benchmark rate on hold after a marginal decline in headline inflation to an annual 25.4% in February, by far the highest in central Europe. Speaking at parliament's economic affairs committee alongside Zoltan Kovacs, another nominee to the nine-member rate-setting panel, Buza said that curbing inflation as soon as possible was in the national interest. "We are living in a crisis situation. However, both the government and the central bank are committed to wrestling down inflation," Buza told the confirmation hearing, where lawmakers backed their nomination. "The coordination of monetary and fiscal policy is needed to consolidate the situation," Buza said. The new members will succeed economists Bianka Parragh and Gyorgy Kocziszky, whose terms expire in late March and early April. The new appointments come at a time of turmoil in global financial markets and as the central bank faces increased pressure from Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government to start lowering interest rates amid a sharp economic slowdown. The Monetary Council has made its decisions unanimously in recent years, so the new appointments are unlikely to swing the balance of power within the rate-setting board. However, both new members said they would be making their decisions autonomously. (Reporting by Gergely Szakacs; Editing by Alex Richardson)