Foreign investments have already reached a record level this year, with agreements concluded on 62 major investment projects, meaning the creation of some 9,682 new workplaces, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said at his annual hearing before Parliament’s Economic Committee.
According to a report by government website kormany.hu, the minister added that the government has provided HUF 129 billion worth of funding to support these investments.
He added that the average salary at new workplaces created via the investment promotion system averaged HUF 420,000, increasing to HUF 458,000 in the first 10 months of this year. During the first ten months, 10 major investments arrived from Korea and three from Japan, with a total value of some EUR 3 bln, all of which are linked to the electric vehicle industry.
"With relation to the investments realized during the first ten months of this year, Komárom-Esztergom County is in first place with 11 major investment projects, with Pest County in second place with nine, followed by Budapest with six," Szijjártó said.
The minister also praised last year’s export record, noting that with its EUR 104.8 bln worth of exports, Hungary is now among the world’s top 35 economies that export more than EUR 100 bln each year.
He argued that the 47% increase in the countryʼs export performance since 2010 indicates Hungaryʼs growing competitiveness.
"Hungary exported EUR 72.2 bln in goods and services during the first eight months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 4%, meaning there is a good chance that by the end of this year Hungary could achieve its highest ever recorded export performance," Szijjártó claimed. "Exports achieved 84.9% of GDP last year, compared to an EU average of 46.7%, placing Hungary in sixth place within the EU."
Szijjártó said that the prerequisite for success in what he calls the "new global economic era" is the application of technologies, adding that the old dogma of capital flowing from the West to the East in search of cheap labor is no longer true.
"These processes have become two-directional, with some new technologies and development coming from the East in the new global economic era, and capital investment is also moving in two directions. The process is also visible within the European economy in view of the fact that Chinese, Japanese and Korean buyers are acquiring ownership in Western European enterprises," he argued.
"Parallel to the new global economic era, the Hungarian economy is also realizing a dimensional transition, and is increasingly transforming from a production-orientated economy into a development-orientated economy," he highlighted. "Hungary’s competitiveness within the renewed international space is indicated by the fact that while Hungary is placed 92nd in the world with relation to its population, it realized the 34th highest export performance in the world last year."
Source: https://bbj.hu
