“We’ve got started,” said Kóka, commenting official FDI figures for the first three quarters of 2004. In Q1–Q3 2004 Hungary lured EUR 2.3 billion, EUR 500 million more than a year earlier.

For 2005, Kóka forecasted 20% increase in the amount of foreign capital invested in Hungary. He cited 11 companies that already pledged to invest a total of EUR 1.5 billion in Hungary. The government will grant support to the investment projects in individual agreements, a practice introduced in 2003.

Hungary returned to the practice of individual agreements with large foreign investors under the Medgyessy-led government after some large automotive companies opted for the Czech Republic and Slovakia instead of Hungary. According to the new procedure, every investment project exceeding EUR 50 million and of “special national importance” in the manufacturing sector, and every regional service center project with personnel-related costs reaching EUR 25 million in two years, can receive state subsidies. The individual agreements with the investors have to be approved by the European Committee.

In 2004, the Hungarian government made tailor-made agreements with four multinationals – Germany’s Bosch, Electrolux of Sweden, U.S.-based ExxonMobil and Japanese Denso – which invested a total of EUR 382 million in Hungary.

Despite the attractive figures in 2004, Gábor Hunya, chief economist at Vienna-based Institute of International Economic Comparisons, said Hungary did not make an outstanding performance in the race for attracting foreign capital among the Central East European countries. However, the large proportion of reinvested profits within the FDI figures show that most companies are here for the long term, and “there are no big movements,” he added.