“The largest ever number and highest ever value of investment arrived in Hungary last year via the Government’s investment promotion system; the 96 investment projects brought with them a total of 3.5 billion euros in investments”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Wednesday in Budapest at a press conference to announce a new investment by Metyx Hungary Limited in Kaposvár.

The Minister told reporters that last year was the second year in succession in which decisions made via the investment promotion system resulted in the creation of over 17 thousand jobs, which means that every inhabitant of a city the size of Balmazújváros could find work thanks to these investments. “In 2017, the average wages paid by these new workplaces exceeded 304 thousand forints, while this figure was 255 thousand forints in the previous year”, he added.

He pointed out that the number of investments agreed upon last year significantly exceeded the previous year’s figure of 71, which represented a total investment value of 3.2 billon euros.

According to the Minister, the record figures for last year are even more valuable thanks to the fact that the majority of them are being realised within fields of industry that are most affected by digitalisation and the new industrial revolution: 36 out of the 96 major new investments are being realised within the automotive sector, 7 each in the electronics and food industry sectors and 5 within the IT sector, in addition to which 10 new service centre investments are also being realised.

Germany leads the list of investor countries with 29, but Hungarian companies are in second place with 18 investments, meaning that the funding conditions developed for foreign companies are also becoming increasingly suitable for domestic enterprises, he said. 10 investments arrived from the United States, and the rate of investment on the part of the countries being targeted by the Government’s Eastern Opening policy has also remained constant, as indicated by the 4 Indian, 3 Chinese, 3 South Korean, 3 Japanese and 2 Turkish investments”, he added.

Now that we have reached full employment, we must primarily strive to increase the level of technology and added value of workplaces, he explained, adding that accordingly the reinforcement of development and research capacities is one of the most important goals within this field.

In a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI following the press conference, the Minister explained: “While investors decided on the creation of over 17 thousand new jobs both last year and in 2016, only less than 5500 workplaces were created in a similar manner during the socialist government’s final year in office in 2009”.

“In 2010, the Orbán government took over the country’s leadership with an unemployment rate of 12.5 percent; unemployment was a huge problem and the livelihoods of a huge number of families was in danger. One of the government’s most important tasks was to create jobs. We have succeeded, and the rate of unemployment has fallen to 3.8 percent, which for practical purposes is equivalent to full employment”, he stressed. “Anyone who wants to work in Hungary today can find work”, he declared. “This is of fundamental importance, because if there is work then there is everything; people’s livelihoods are assured and their self-esteem is also reinforced”, Mr. Szijjártó added.

“Now that there are enough jobs, our task is to ensure that the people of Hungary can work according to increasingly favourable conditions. This is why during the course of investment promotion we are placing greater emphasis on companies also bringing their research & development divisions to Hungary in addition to their production bases, because that means they will be able to provide work and competitive salaries to highly-trained professionals”, the Minister indicated.

“The Government’s goal is to enable everyone to take one step forward from time to time. This is the path we have been travelling so far, and we will not be straying from this path in future”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade declared.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)