Hungary has weathered the storm of 2020, a year which had seen it being impacted by Covid-19. The country has emerged from a challenging period with real estate and construction remaining as the most active sectors in the Hungarian M&A market. Telecoms, IT, manufacturing and life sciences are also seen as areas of growth; the Hungarian government is keen to capitalise on the nation’s central European location to promote its role as a major hub for logistics, manufacturing and research and development in the healthcare and life science industries.

The Economic Protection Action Plan, which was released in spring 2020, has been successful in balancing the economy and helping the labour market. In addition, it has strengthened key industries, such as life sciences, manufacturing, logistics and tourism through tax breaks and monetary incentives.

The development of the creative industry is also firmly on the agenda, with the government keen to strengthen and expand the Hungarian media production and film industry, support design industry SME’s, and from 2021, the establishment of the Creative Media Center. In the health sector, the government is actively working to establish the Health Industry Innovation Agency and secure its place as a top research and development, biotech and vaccine manufacturing in the CEE and EU market.

Other actively growing areas include data protection, privacy and compliance, domestic investments and renewable energy project development (predominantly wind and solar farms), the development of logistics parks and commercial real estate.