Szijjártó: Govt to protect utility fee cuts, pensions, full employment

Hungary’s government will protect the achievements of its utility cut scheme, pensions, and full employment in the face of the economic challenges brought about by the war in Ukraine, Péter Szijjárto, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said on Thursday, at a plant inauguration of Japanese-owned Nissho Hungary.

The company’s new plant in Újhartyán, near Budapest, will manufacture optical films for electric car production. The government supported the 4 billion forint investment (EUR 10.3m) with a tax cut worth 1.4 billion forints, helping to create 140 jobs, Szijjárto said.

At the inauguration, Szijjárto said the past 15 years had seen the “start of a new era in world economy”. While 80 per cent of global investments were financed form Western capital in 2007, Eastern countries now have a 70 per cent share of global investments, he said.

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Hungary’s policy to open to the East is “not a political or ideological policy but an economic one,” which has proven a “complete success”, he said.