Ministerial Commissioner Piroska Szalai, responsible for the improvement of women’s job prospects, and Minister of State for Economic Regulation Kristóf Szatmáry consulted with businesswomen at an event organized by the Directorate for Social Relationships of Fidesz Hungarian Civic Union to promote cooperation and the discussion of issues of public interest between businesswomen, special interest groups and the Government.

Kristóf Szatmáry said that one-third of enterprises with less than ten employees are owned by women and many of them are self-employed. Therefore, the Government has assisted their development through a number of measures. The new, uncomplicated regulations and tax incentives, such as the rapid and low-cost founding of companies, cash-flow based VAT, the lump-sum small enterprise tax (kata) and the small enterprise tax (kiva) as well as the simplified accounting of micro enterprises, are facilitating a business-friendly environment.

Piroska Szalai stressed that economic growth would be impossible without SMEs. In 2012, there were 421 thousand self-employed people in Hungary, of which 142 thousand or 34 percent were women. This figure is the 9th highest in the European Union and 3 percentage points above the EU average.

The Ministerial Commissioner called attention to the fact that the number of young businesswomen also increased in 2012 by 2000. This was the first year after a long period, she added, when this number increased, as in previous years the number of young entrepreneurs and their share within self-employed people had been declining.

Last year, 47 percent of self-employed people had an employee in Hungary, within that 39 percent of self-employed women and 51 percent of self-employed men. This latter figure is the highest compared to EU member states.

(Ministry for National Economy)