The coming period is a period of development, as the Government plans to allocate some 10 percent – about HUF 700bn -- of EU funding within the 2014-2020 fiscal period to research and development, Minister of State for Parliament Zoltán Cséfalvay said at a business lunch where representatives of the Swiss-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce, the Hungarian-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Italy’s Chamber of Commerce in Hungary and the British Chamber of Commerce in Hungary participated.

The Minister of State stated that the fiscal consolidation process has been completed, the Hungarian economy has resumed growing and GDP data of the latest quarter have been promising. He stressed that the Government aims to achieve sustainable growth of the country which rests on several pillars and to this end -- in addition to exports -- investment and domestic demand shall increasingly contribute to economic expansion.

Zoltán Cséfalvay reiterated that in the coming EU fiscal period the Government intends to devote some 60 percent of EU and domestic funds made available for Hungary directly to economic development. Within that, he added, the Government projects to allocate some HUF 700bn on R&D.
The Minister of State said that regarding the amount of R&D spending Hungary is in the middle of EU ranking, while in the Central and Eastern European region the country is among the best.

He emphasised that in case any large foreign company – in harmony with the Government’s economic policy goals – plans to bring its R&D centre to Hungary, the Government will provide assistance to the project.

The Minister of State also said that the Central and Eastern European region is becoming Europe’s workshop, a powerhouse, and Hungary has been a leader in this process as new domestic investment projects have been more and more spurring GDP growth.

Zoltán Cséfalvay pointed out that the Funding for Growth Programme of the National Bank of Hungary has been a key factor behind the launching of new investment projects, especially as in the second phase of the lending programme the note bank’s resources are expected to be spent mainly on investment and development projects.

As a response to a question the Minister of State reiterated that the Government will in the future place a special emphasis on innovation-driven, budding young enterprises, the so-called start-ups.

(Ministry for National Economy)