“Cooperation between the business service centres operating in Hungary and the government is mutually profitable; this must be continued in future”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Thursday in Budapest.

At the Budapest Business Services Hungary conference organised by the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) and the Hungarian Service and Outsourcing Association (HOA), Mr. Szijjártó said: “We have succeeded in creating a ‘Hungarian model’ with which maintaining the fiscal balance and boosting the national economy are realised simultaneously”. “During the past nine years we have succeeded in reducing sovereign debt in every single successive year, and sovereign debt will be falling to under 60 percent of GDP by 2022. The government has created 800 thousand new workplaces during the past nine year, reducing the rate of unemployment from 12.5 percent to just 3.3. percent” he said. “Hungary has the second highest rate of growth among the member states of the European Union (5.2 percent), and has broken every significant investment and export record over the past two years”, the Minister underlined.

“Furthermore, the government has succeeded in boosting economic growth while also successfully maintaining the fiscal and budget balance”, the Minister emphasised. “2019 is the fifth year in succession in which we have succeeded in adopting the budget for the following year by the end of the summer, which helps enterprises plan ahead. The country has also set a record with relation to employment, and there is essentially full employment in Hungary. This means that the focus of economic policy must be shifted to the reduction of the taxes on work, and instead of a quantitative approach we must concentrate on qualitative factors with relation to job creation”, Mr. Szijjártó said.

“The investment record will also be broken again this year in view of the fact that there has already been more investment in Hungary than there was last year. 1400 billion forints (EUR 4.16 billion) in investment arrived via the investment promotion system by mid-November” he stated. “The job creation requirement for foreign investors to receive funding has been discontinued, and from now on this requires an investment that represents new technology. This is also facilitating the dimensional transition of the economy”, the Minister said.

Mr. Szijjártó also spoke about the fact that there are 120 business service centres operating in Hungary, employing over 55 thousand people. “34 investment projects have been realised within the sector during the past three year, with which 4667 jobs have been created. We are currently in negotiation with seven companies”, the Minister informed the press. “The government is committed to supporting enterprises that would like to bring a service centre to Hungary”, he declared. “The government is working on the new economy protection action plan, which will include funding for service centres”, he added.

President of the HIPA Ésik Róbert said that these centres are representing an increasing level of added value and greatly contribute to enabling highly trained young people who speak foreign languages to remain in Hungary.

(MTI)