Italian automotive industry supplier Novation Tech is investing 1.3 billion forints (EUR 3.7m) at its base in Szeghalom, in south-eastern Hungary, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said on Thursday. The government is supporting the investment, which will create at least 50 jobs, with a 450 million forint grant, the foreign ministry cited Péter Szijjártó as saying.
The minister said Novation Tech’s investment was a further testament to the economic progress seen in rural Hungary, adding that there was an increasing number of companies based in the countryside that could be successful on the global market.
The output of Hungary’s automotive industry came to 8,700 billion forints by November last year, 90 percent of which was produced for export,
Szijjártó said.
Thanks to the “bold strategic decisions” taken by the government over the course of the coronavirus pandemic, Hungary saw a record 1,886 billion forints’ worth of investments last year, he said. Employment in the country is at its highest since the change of regime 32 years ago and exports came to a record 119 billion euros in 2021, he added.
“If we hadn’t ensured Hungary’s vaccine supply back when there was a shortage of vaccines across the European Union, and if we had given in to the temptation of handing out money based on social considerations in the interest of a short-term popularity boost, then 2021 would not have been a year of records, but one of severe depression,” the minister said.
The government’s decisions have proven to be the correct ones, Szijjártó said, adding that thanks to its vaccination drive early last year, Hungary had been able to reopen its economy on average two months ahead of the rest of Europe.
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Source: MTI
