Trade promotion agency helps EUR 1.4bn worth of projects last year

Budapest, February 11 (MTI) – Hungary’s trade promotion agency, the HIPA, was involved in the launch of 67 investment projects last year, with a combined value of 1.4 billion euros, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said at the agency’s press conference on Thursday.

HIPA helped launch 21 percent more projects last year than in 2014, he said, adding that the projects created 12,995 new jobs in Hungary. This result made HIPA the best investment agency in the central and eastern European region, he said.

Hungary’s per capita foreign direct investment (FDI) is currently 8263 euros, the second highest in the region after the Czech Republic, Szijjártó said, adding that the government wants to raise this amount to take top position. Hungary’s exports-to-GDP ratio was 98.8 percent at the end of 2014 and it rose to 103.8 percent by the end of the third quarter of last year, he said. In terms of the industry-to-GDP ratio, Hungary climbed to third place from fourth in the European Union when the indicator improved from 26.8 percent to 27.5 percent.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters