Budapest
and its surroundings are the second best place to invest money in
Europe, according to a report on the EU's "sunrise regions"
published by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, a UK
consultancy. The region of Central Hungary was ranked second only to
Prague in the Czech Republic. Eastern European regions dominated the
ranking because of their high growth rates and big pool of skilled
labor, according to the report. The top 15 regions on the list are in
Eastern Europe.
The
countries were scored compared to the whole EU's average attractiveness
to investors, which was "100%" in the report. The Budapest
region scored 172%, and was followed by the region around Bratislava, in
Slovakia, with a score of 168%. Prague scored 178%. Other Hungarian
regions in the list's top 10 were Central Transdanubia, with a score of
167%, and Western Transdanubia, with a score of 161%. Southern
Transdanubia and the
Southern Great Plains were Hungary's least attractive regions to
investors. But, with scores of 143% and 136%, respectively, they are
still far better places to invest than most other EU regions. Taking
into account all of its regions, Hungary is the fourth most attractive
EU country to invest in, according to the report. The most attractive
country for investors is Lithuania, followed by Slovakia and Latvia.
Among
the EU-15, Ireland was the most attractive place, as a whole,
to invest in. Its Southern and Eastern region, along with its Border,
Midlands and Western region, were ranked 20th and 29th, respectively, on
the list. In addition to these two regions, France's lie de France
region (ranked 28th), Greece's Attiki region (31st), and Germany's
Bavaria (38th) and Nordrhein-Westfalen (39th) re9ions were the only
EU-15 regions among the list's top 40.
(Business
Hungary, February 2005)
