New records in investments and exports in Hungary

New records in investments and exports “can now be taken for granted” for this year, the minister of foreign affairs and trade told parliament’s economic committee on Tuesday.

The foreign ministry quoted Péter Szijjártó as attributing the good results to the government’s “maintaining its strategy aimed at building a work-based society promoting investment and job-creation even in times of crisis”.

Hungary is directly impacted by the war in Ukraine, and “Europe’s handling the conflict has resulted in a situation which poses extraordinary challenges for the Hungarian economy,” Szijjártó said, addig that soaring inflation was “clearly caused by the war and the sanctions aimed at addressing it”.

Szijjártó welcomed that, despite all difficulties, investments, exports, and employment reached new record highs in 2022. While Hungary’s exports totalled 142 billion euros in 2022, the total may exceed 150 billion euros this year, and investments could double, from 6.5 billion euros to 13 billion euros, he said. Employment may again be at a record high level this year, he said.

“The basis is investments … record investments will boost job creation and GDP growth, and what I can tell you for this year, is that both in terms of investments as well as exports we can take new economic records for granted,” he said.

Referring to the government’s scheme to promote investments, he said agreements were signed for 214 new projects this year, to create 19,000 new jobs. He added that most investments were coming from China, followed by Germany and the US.