Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said Hungary drew record investments of more than 13 billion euros in 2023.
Minister Szijjártó said in a video message that the global economy faced “very serious crises” last year, noting that global investments fell by 12.5% from 2021 to 2022 and were down another 30% in the first half of 2023. This, he said, showed that global investments still fell short of pre-pandemic levels. Hungary, however, has been seeing record investments in these years, the minister said, noting that the economy drew 6.5 billion euros in FDI in 2022 and more than 13 billion last year, supported by 2 billion euros in government grants. The investments created a record 19,000 jobs, he said. China was the biggest foreign investor in Hungary last year, with the second largest group of investors being Hungarian businesses, Szijjártó said. This, he added, meant that Hungary now had a strong business sector that could compete with foreign investors. Szijjártó said Hungary’s investment records made the country a winner of the “new era of the global economy”, pointing out that it had attracted many investments from the electric vehicle industry, which he said would define the new era. He noted that the world’s biggest electric vehicle producer was set to build the sixth e-vehicle manufacturing plant in Hungary. Hungary will also have the second-biggest EV battery manufacturing capacity in the world, making it a global leader and the “European champion” of the green auto industry, Minister Szijjártó said.