“In addition to investments on the part of large international companies, the predictable and significant growth of the national economy also requires competitive, Hungarian-owned industrial companies”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared at a press conference in Budapest on Thursday to announce a new development project by MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas Plc.

The Minister told reporters that the Hungarian Government is providing 11.7 billion forints (EUR 37.5 million) in funding towards the construction of MOL’s new 280 billion forint (EUR 900 million) petrochemical complex in Tiszaújváros. “In addition, once the new facility is put into commission, the company will also be able to apply for corporation tax benefits, meaning that if authorised by the European Commission the total level of the state’s contribution could reach 131 million euros”, he said.

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According to the Brussels body, the government funding will facilitate the region’s development without obstructing fair market competition, he added.

The Minister stressed that this is the largest single amount of project funding paid out in the country’s history with which the Hungarian Government is supporting a Hungarian-run company. “In addition, the project will not only reinforce MOL’s leading role in the region, but the new plant will also be making use of state-of-the-art technologies, which corresponds to the Government’s economic development goal of concentrating on quality criteria as opposed to quantity in future within the field of new investments”, he added.

According to the Minister, MOL’s decision confirms the fact that Hungary has gained strength in view of the fact that other states has also applied to host the new investment, meaning we had to stand our ground against still international competition.

Mr. Szijjártó recalled that the performance of the chemical industry had increased by 12 percent during the first 8 months of the year, achieving a production value of 3500 billion forints (EUR 11.3bn), in addition to which the sector provides jobs to over 88 thousand people in Hungary.

President and CEO of MOL Zsolt Hernádi told reporters that the new plant in Tiszaújváros wold directly lead to the creation of 200 new jobs that will be maintained in the long term, in addition to indirectly giving rise to thousands of new job opportunities.

He stressed that the new project was not just important for the chemical industry but was also a historic event for industry in general in view of the fact that it is being realised in one of Europe’s ten lowest income regions and will help reduce economic imbalances within the country.

Thanks to its modern technology, the new petrochemical plant will realise 15 percent of Europe’s polyol production in an environmentally friendly manner and with zero emissions, its products will be used by the construction, automotive, packaging and furniture industries, and its production will increased Hungary’s GDP by 70 billion forints (EUR 225 million) a year, he added.

According to Mr. Hernádi, OL has recognised that the role of motor fuels is increasingly being replaced by other materials, and accordingly the company is investing one and a half billion dollars every five years, a total of 4.5 billion dollars until 2030, on the petrochemical sector.

(MTI)