Continental investment to create over 600 jobs in Hungary

Budapest, November 10 (MTI) – Car parts supplier Continental Hungary’s 5.1 billion forint (EUR 16.3m) investment is set to create 681 new jobs in Hungary, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced on Monday.

Szijjarto said that the government had contributed 1.7 billion forints to the project.

The investment will see Continental install new assembly lines in its plant in Nyiregyhaza, in eastern Hungary, renovate a 4,000-square metre production hall, build a new storage facility and increase production capacities.

Most of the company’s new employees will be hired to work in the Nyiregyhaza factory.

Szijjarto noted that parent company Continental had announced several new investments over the past few years, which he said demonstrated that “the Hungarian model is working” and that job creation and economic growth is also possible alongside fiscal discipline.

Szijjarto noted that Continental’s latest investment in eastern Hungary comes hot on the heels of another one in the south, in Mako.

Continental, which has been active in Hungary since 1995, is the world’s largest auto industry supplier. The minister noted that the auto sector is by now the flagship of Hungarian industry, and the current investment supports job creation in the east of the country. This is why the government decided to support it, he added.

Another reason is that Continental is a German group and Hungary-Germany economic ties are the cornerstone of Hungarian economic performance. Out of Hungary’s 80 billion euros of FDI, a quarter comes from Germany. While Hungarian exports to Germany and trade turnover between the two countries hit a record last year, in the first eight months of the current one, the former grew by 7 percent while the latter rose by 8 percent, he said.

Szijjarto added that one legacy of such investments is that after a period of downgrades, now there appears to be a new period of upgrades of Hungary by rating agencies.

He said it would not be an exaggeration to say that in the coming period central Europe will be the economic growth engine of Europe, since the region’s countries have enacted major structural reforms in order to create a more competitive business environment. Political stability is also a key ingredient from this point of view, he added.

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