The Government will launch a national consultation process with regard to its long term innovation strategy until 2020 at the end of the month – Minister of State for Economic Strategy at the Ministry for National Economy Zoltán Cséfalvay announced on Thursday at a Swedish-Hungarian innovation forum in Budapest.
Minister for National Economy György Matolcsy spoke at the conference titled Chinese-Hungarian Trade Relations Today, stating that cooperation between Hungary and China has been increasingly promising and a strong economic bridge has been built between the two countries. Chinese investments total almost 2.5 billion USD in Hungary. According to the Minister, the latest Wanhua project at Kazincbarcika may be followed by further six to eight significant investments.
In July 2012 exports and imports increased by 5.6 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively, compared to the corresponding period of 2011.
In the period of June-August 2012 the rate of employment increased to 51.1 percent which is a multi-year record and above pre-crisis levels – the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) has reported in its latest release.
The Switzerland-based Stadler Rail Group, the rail vehicle manufacturer, held a ceremony for laying the foundation stone for its new Szolnok project earlier today.
Key data of the central sub sector of the state budget in August 2012.
In the initial seven months of 2012 sales of food, beverages and tobacco products increased by 0.2 percent on an annualized basis. In the seventh month of the year, after growth in the previous month, this retail sub sector however recorded a turnover decline of 2.4 percent compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.
Minister of State for Economic Regulation at the Ministry for National Economy Kristóf Szatmáry, at a joint press conference with the Hungarian Tourism Ltd. and the Hungarian Hotel and Restaurant Association said that government measures introduced in the past two-and-a-half years have yielded results as data for the initial seven months of the year indicate tourist traffic has reached an all-time high. The almost 12 million tourist nights recorded at Hungarian commercial accommodations between January and July surpass both pre-crisis and post-crisis levels.
After having considered proposals made during expert negotiations, the State Audit Office of Hungary and the Fiscal Council tabled amendments regarding the Job Protection Action Plan and the bill on the itemized tax for enterprises with a small tax base and small enterprise tax. The submitted proposals have been approved by the Council and thus the National Assembly can vote on the amendments.
The Ministry of National Economy proposed to waive social contributions after every worker under the age of 25, Deputy State Secretary Sándor Czomba in charge of employment policy said on Wednesday.