Companies were most active in the construction sector where 52% of them had at least one investment project and 17% had several. In the industrial sector 39% of companies made one investment and over 25% made more than one. Investments were fewer in retail and services.

In the retail sector 67% of respondents made no big investment while in the services sector the share was 61%.

The main investment goals were capacity expansion, replacement of old machines and equipment, and technological development.

The expansion of business activity and product portfolio was also a business goal in one-fifth of investments.

Survey respondents said that 82% used their own funds for the projects and only 8% used loans from the free market.

Some 60% of respondents kept the combined value of their investments below 100 million forints and 14% said that they had carried out more than one investment project.

NMS surveyed 500 SMEs with an annual revenue of at least 300 million forints between the end of September and the start of October.

Hungarian Finance Minister Announces Tender For HUF 100 Billion in SME Funding

Finance Minister Mihály Varga announced a tender for 100 billion forints (EUR 273m) in European Union and state funding to support technology upgrades, productivity and competitiveness at SMEs in a video message posted on Facebook on Monday.

SMEs may apply for funding of between 10 million and 200 million forints to buy new equipment, make IT developments, acquire real estate and make the switch to renewable energy, Varga said.

He added that most of the funding, expected to be enough for “several thousand businesses”, will go to underdeveloped regions.


MTI Photo