“The Government’s goal is the long-term maintenance of the favourable investment environment”, Parliamentary State Secretary Levente Magyar from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade stressed on Tuesday in Budapest at the “Central and Eastern Europe - Germany’s Strong Partner” international conference organised by the German-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DUIHK).

“The states of the Visegrád Group (V4) are important trade partners to Germany; 12-13 percent of Germany’s imports come from these countries, parallel to which 10-11 percent of German exports are destined for the countries of the V4”, he highlighted.

“German companies have always trusted in Hungarian investment opportunities, and German investors played a significant role in boosting the development of the Hungarian economy following the regime change”, the State Secretary pointed out.

“The V4 region is an important investment location for German enterprises, and it is in the interests of the Hungarian Government for this relationship to continue to exist in the long term. It is the Cabinet’s firm goal to compensate for labour shortages as soon as possible, and primarily with relation to skilled workers”, Mr. Magyar said.

At the event, the DUIHK presented the results of its latest survey, according to which 84 percent of the German enterprises operating here would choose Hungary again as their investment destination. According to the survey, Hungary is in 5th place among the 16 countries of Central and Eastern Europe with relation to its economic situation.

The Central and Eastern European region only provides 8 percent of the European Union’s GDP, yet the amount of German working capital invested in the countries of Central and Eastern European increased from 80 billion euros in 2010 to 106 billion euros by the end of 2016, making the region the largest importer of German capital.

The survey performed by the German-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry also indicates that labour shortages are occurring to an increasing extent within the Central and Eastern European region. The situation in Hungary has worsened to a lesser degree compared to other countries in the region, and in fact the country has succeeded in making significant progress with relation to workforce flexibility.

The directors of German enterprises were extremely appreciative of the fact that tax burdens in Hungary have been reduced, with corporation tax falling to just 9 percent last year, the lowest rate within the European Union, and the social contributions payable by enterprises falling to 19.5 percent last year compared to 27 percent in the previous year, which is already leading to a significant reduction in the public tax burdens payable by enterprises, it transpires from the survey.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)