Foreign minister: Hungarian workers globally competitive

Work carried out by Hungarians is globally competitive, Péter Szijjártó, the Hungarian foreign minister, said on Thursday. Thanks to Hungarians’ knowledge and level of training, products and services produced in Hungary “are in demand everywhere”, he said.

Fully 43 large-scale investments worth 731 billion forints (EUR 2.2bn) are taking place in Hungary thanks to agreements made between January and July this year, an 11 percent increase on last year, Szijjártó told a press conference on Thursday.

Last year, 98 investments worth 1,350 billion forints were made in Hungary, compared with a mere quarter of that in 2009.

Investments in 2019 have so far created 7,300 jobs, a 9 percent increase on the same period last year, he said. Jobholders in newly created jobs earned before tax 304,000 forints (EUR 920) on average in 2017, 420,000 forints in 2018 and 505,000 forints this year, he said.

This year, the majority of investments came from South Korea, unlike in past years when most came from Germany, Szijjártó said. This is largely explained by the rise of the electric car industry, he said.

The value of exports and sum total of investments have broken new records every year for five years, Szijjártó said, adding that Hungary is turning from being a production centre into a knowledge-based economy with a focus on R and D.

Hungary’s export performance is ranked 34th worldwide compared to a population that is the 92nd largest.

From next year, the government is raising funding for training programmes for investors, he said.

Source: MTI