“Last year saw the highest ever number of major investments in Hungary”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said at a press conference in Budapest on Wednesday.

The Minister explained that the government successfully agreed on a total of 101 major investments with large foreign and Hungarian corporations last year, which is three more than the previous record achieved in 2018. “The total value of these investments exceeds 1705 billion forints (EUR 5.15 billion), which may also be regarded as an absolute record and is equivalent to some 4 percent of last year’s GDP”, he emphasised. “The government aided the realisation of these investment projects with a total of 156 billion forints (EUR 471 million) in non-returnable funding”, he added.
“The jobs created by these new investments are characterised by 50 percent higher salaries than those created in 2017, and this mirrors the dimensional transition of the Hungarian economy”, Mr. Szijjártó added. According to the Minister, while the large companies investing in Hungary used to be exclusively production-orientated, investments are now being launched by enterprises that are applying new technologies that correspond to the requirements being dictated by the new global economic era. “As a result, the orientation of the Hungarian economy has shifted towards research and development”, he added. Mr. Szijjártó said last year was also unique from the perspective that the most investment arrived in Hungary from South Korea rather that from Germany. “The success of our Eastern Opening policy is indicated by the fact that some 48 percent of the total investment value for 2019 was realised by two large Korean companies, while South Korean, Japanese and Chinese investors created one third of all new workplaces”, he stated.
Mr. Szijjártó spoke about the fact that the global automotive industry is shifting to a totally new era, and Hungary is one of the leading countries of this era. He cited as an example the fact that last year eight major investments arrived in Hungary that were related to the manufacturing of electric batteries and parts, in addition to which several enterprises are developing their production of electric motors in Hungary. He evaluated the fact that more business service centres than ever before, a total of eleven, were established in Hungary in 2019 as a success. “Workplaces such as this provide well-paid jobs to highly trained young people who speak several languages, thus helping them to remain at home”, he explained. He highlighted the fact that the Hungarian economy is standing on several pillars and is balanced, which equates to security. According to the Minister, this is also indicated by the fact that the new investments were realised within 20 different sectors of industry. “In addition, regional balance is indicated by the fact that investments were made in every single county, with Komárom-Esztergom County coming up into third place behind Budapest and Pest County in the rankings”, he said.
Mr. Szijjártó noted that Hungarian-owned businesses realised ten major investment projects in 2019 at a total value of 126 billion forints (EUR 381 million). In reply to a question from the press, the Minister noted that negotiations are currently ongoing on a couple of automotive industry related investment projects with volumes that correspond to the very biggest concluded last year.

(MTI)