2024 the Second Most Successful Year Regarding Investment Stimulation

Last year was the second most successful year in the history of the Hungarian economy in terms of investment stimulation, with HUF 4,000 billion (EUR 9.6 billion) of new investment coming to Hungary on the basis of agreements concluded in 2024, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced.

According to the Ministry’s statement, the Minister said that recent years have been characterized by threats and crises, the effects of which have also had an impact on the economy. “Armed conflicts, threats of terrorism, health crises – all these have caused extreme difficulties for the players in the world economy,” he pointed out.

He said that all this had ushered in a new era in the world economy, and the changes had triggered fierce global competition for investment. He added that the main factor that would determine which countries would be the winners in the new era would be those that could attract the most advanced technology investment. “And in this competition, Hungary, despite the extreme difficulties, performed very well last year (…) 2024 has become the second most successful year in the history of the Hungarian economy in terms of investment stimulation,” he emphasized.

Péter Szijjártó reported that

the government had signed agreements with seventy-seven companies for new investments worth a total of HUF 4,000 billion (EUR 9.6 billion).

The Minister welcomed the fact that most of these investment projects were carried out by Hungarian companies, twenty-three namely, which is unprecedented. “The strategy of economic neutrality also works, and in fact it is the only strategy that works if we look around the world,” he emphasized. To back this up, he pointed out that the seven Chinese companies involved represent the largest volume of investment, accounting for half of the total investment value, but that South Korean and Japanese companies have also decided to make major new investments.

Just under 80 percent of the total investment value was brought to Hungary by the China-South Korea-Japan trio. Think about it, if we had given in to the pressure, if we had bowed to the weight of the attacks, if we had not implemented the strategy of opening up to the East, if we had not embarked on the strategy of economic neutrality, if we had allowed ourselves to be cut off from investment in the East, then many thousands of jobs and billions of euros of investment would have gone to other countries.”

“Economic neutrality is also shown by the fact that the fourth most investment came from Germany, the fifth most from the US and the seventh most from Switzerland last year,” the Foreign Minister continued. “So companies from all over the world have brought modern technology and created new jobs in Hungary,” he added.

Chinese company BYD, the world’s leading manufacturer of new energy vehicles, is building its first European car plant in Szeged (south Hungary) Photo: Hungary Today

Péter Szijjártó said that

the automotive and electronics sectors continued to be the backbone of new investment, but the food industry had moved up to third place and nineteen high value-added projects had been agreed that would bring business service centers, IT investments or research and development activities to Hungary.

“So we have also been able to make a significant step forward in the dimension change of the Hungarian economy,” he emphasized.

The Foreign Minister pointed out that the East-West imbalance in the country is a thing of the past, with the counties of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and Komárom-Esztergom (both in northern Hungary) developing rapidly, while the government is also working hard to develop the south-western Hungarian region, as shown by the three new investments in Baranya county that came as a result of last year’s agreements.

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Via MTI, Featured photo via Facebook/Péter Szijjártó

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