Hungary’s answer: “The key to growth is FDI.”
25 April 2023
Minister for Economic Development, Márton Nagy has recently said in an interview with Inforádió Aréna that a change in the financing structure will take place in Hungary, due to the fact that from 2023 FDI will have a very significant role in investments, as in his words “the key to growth is FDI”.
The Minister also said that the government's goal is still to be as attractive to foreign direct investment as possible: it is a priority of the Government that investors come not only to the manufacturing industry, but also to new areas i.e. the health economy or logistics and transportation, as well as services, as “industry and services go hand in hand.”
One of the goals of the Government is for Hungarian companies to enter into the supply chain, not only as tier 3 suppliers, but also as tier 2, and preferably tier 1 suppliers.
The other goal is to make the added value as high as possible at home, so that the profit stays in Hungary as long as possible.
According to the Minister, the main aspects for investors when deciding about an investment in Hungary are:
- political stability,
- highly trained workforce,
- adequate energy infrastructure.
As Hungary performes well in these criteria, the Minister believes that we are quite well positioned in the race to attract new FDIs.
The Minister also said that a digital transformation has become decisive, this is most felt in the production of electric vehicles (mainly in battery production and autonomous driving). This area is special for another reason: the batteries come from the East, but the technology comes from the West.
In light of this, he believes that in Hungary a global FDI strategy is in place, as Hungary welcomes foreign investors from all over the world.