Czech government boosts investment and job creation

Together with Minister of Industry and Trade Jan Mládek and CzechInvest CEO Karel Kučera, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobota today appraised the first 18 months of his government’s work in the area of gaining new investments and creating new jobs.

“I am pleased that the government has succeeded in fulfilling one of its key priorities and that in the first 18 months of the cabinet’s term in office, we have managed to gain 196 new investment projects in the volume of 108 billion crowns, which should generate more than 23,000 jobs. It is important that we keep up this initial pace in the coming months. The Ministry of Industry and Trade and CzechInvest must build on the success achieved so far and continue to work intensively on improving the conditions for entry of new investors into our country,” said Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka.

“Thanks to support for economic diplomacy, on which we have focused a great deal of attention, the past year and a half has been extraordinarily successful for the Czech Republic in the area of investments. In the past year, I have personally taken a full range of trips abroad as the head of Czech business missions. I also headed a number of meetings in regions that are interesting in terms of investment, the result of which is that today the Czech Republic is seen as a stable and friendly environment for investors, which motivates Czech and foreign companies to continue to develop their business here. At present, especially investments in the areas of data centres, aerospace and shared-services are gaining strength. These are mostly projects with high value added that require experience and a skilled workforce, which is where the Czech Republic has a competitive advantage,” said Minster of Industry and Trade Jan Mládek.

“Since the beginning of 2015, he have gained new projects with high value added primarily from the United States, Japan and China, which reflects the recovery and growth of the global economy. At the same time, we are registering rising interest in local suppliers,” said Karel Kučera, CEO of CzechInvest.

The biggest investment projects of the recent period include HTC’s repair centre in Brno. INA Lanškroun, s.r.o. is preparing major changes involving the expansion of its operation at a cost of CZK 2.5 billion and hiring of 900 new employees. RONAL CR s.r.o. of Pardubice is preparing to invest CZK 1.7 billion in its expansion and to hire an additional 110 employees.

Germans are traditionally the most active foreign investors in the Czech Republic and are currently planning to implement 38 new projects here, followed by investors from the United States with 21 projects, the Netherlands with eleven and France with ten. In terms of investment volume, however, South Korea is the leader, with projects here in the value of CZK 29 billion, followed by Germany (CZK 14 billion) and the Netherlands (CZK 8 billion).

With 67 new projects worth CZK 34.7 billion, vehicle manufacturing is the dominant sector in terms of the number of projects. Other major sectors in this respect include metallurgy and metalworking with 25 projects worth CZK 12.7 billion and mechanical engineering with 16 projects. In terms of investment volume, the most successful sectors include the rubber industry, which has received investments in the value of more than CZK 23 billion.

On the regional scale, the strongest investment activity is found in the Moravia-Silesia region, where 32 new projects worth CZK 17.7 billion are to be implemented with the creation of 4,530 jobs. The Ústí region ranks a close second in this respect, with thirty new projects in the value of CZK 36 billion and 4,495 jobs.

Another step forward in attracting investors to the Czech Republic is the approval of a project involving favourable industrial zones that offer investors even more advantageous conditions for their business in the Czech Republic.