BUSINESS & TECH

BUSINESS & TECH Large world companies invest a lot in this part of Europe, and they regularly bypass Croatia Frequent changes in the tax system and high levies drive many investors Telegram Editorial Office TELEGRAM EDITORIAL OFFICE 21:36 1 RECOMMENDATION 0 COMMENTS LAST CHANGE: SEP 28, 2020PHOTO: TELEGRAM ILLUSTRATION Large investors often bypass Croatia in a wide arc; many companies, even if they dare to invest in Croatia, give it up in a few years. Among them are the latest examples of Meggle, which decided to close the production plant in Osijek, and 160 workers were fired. The departure of British American Tobacco (BAT) has been talked about more and more intensely in the last few months. According to those familiar with the situation on the tobacco market, BAT is considering leaving Croatia due to the unpredictability of business and the unfair system of taxation of tobacco products. Although BAT did not want to officially comment on the reasons for considering leaving, it can be found that they are bothered by the fact that excise duties are being raised in Croatia without any plan, and decisions largely depend on how much money is missing in the budget. There is no excise calendar as is common in developed countries, which would allow companies to know in advance when an increase in excise duties may occur, making it easier to plan their business and avoid mostly unpleasant surprises. With his departure, 1,600 workers and indirectly 400 subcontractors would lose their jobs. But a few examples from the region, which we have dealt with, also show that it can be different. 1. MICROSOFT'S INVESTMENT IN POLAND In early May, Microsoft announced a $ 1 billion investment in a data center in Poland. As they wrote in their announcement, the decision fell on Poland because the company believes that Poland has the opportunity to become the "digital heart of Europe". Such a huge investment by such an influential company has clearly shown how the countries of Central and Eastern Europe have progressed rapidly, and Croatia has lagged behind. Poland is, among other things, one of the ten largest economies in the EU, as evidenced by the fact that, when the world fell into the economic crisis in 2009, they passed almost unscathed. They even recorded GDP growth of 1.6 percent. THE TEXT CONTINUES AFTER THE AD Sponsored content In the Tifon prize game, we refund the amount of refills to one customer every day! Midas - Native Internet Advertising 2. TOYO TIRES BUILDS IN SERBIA One of the largest car tire manufacturers, the Japanese company Toyo Tires, announced in July 2019 the construction of a factory in the Vojvodina city of Indjija, worth 390 million euros. Construction was scheduled to begin in May this year, and production is scheduled to begin in January 2022. The planned production capacity of the factory is five million tires a year, and 500 jobs should be created in the factory. The factory in Indjija will also be the first European Toyo Tires factory. According to the latest information , the construction of the factory has been postponed from April this year to August, but the mayor of Indjija, Vladimir Gak , says that everything is going according to plan, with minimal delays given the situation. 3. BOSCH INVESTMENTS IN HUNGARY Bosch, one of the largest suppliers to the automotive industry, opened a development center in Budapest in 2005, whose role in the development of new technologies was growing. Within the Bosch Group, this center has become one of the most important for electronics research, development and testing. It should be noted that Bosch has been in a certain capacity in Hungary since 1898, but Hungary has taken on a more significant role since 2005. In 2018, Bosch announced an additional investment of 120 million euros in the expansion of the development center. They planned to complete the works by 2021, and through the investment, they would employ another 1,800 people. Bosch's focus in Hungary is on the development of electric and autonomous vehicles, which is, after all, a trend of the entire automotive industry. 4. BMW BUILDS A FACTORY IN HUNGARY In Hungary (in the pre-coronavirus era), more than 400,000 cars were produced annually. Mercedes-Benz, Suzuki, Citroen and others have their factories in Hungary, and in 2018 the company announced that German BMW will join. At the end of June 2018, they announced the construction of a new factory to assemble 150,000 BMWs, and this would be their first new factory since 2000, when they opened a factory in Leipzig. They announced that they would invest one billion euros in the construction of a factory capable of producing classic and electric cars, Reuters wrote . But BMW's plans were thwarted by a coronavirus. Although construction of the new factory was scheduled to begin this year , BMW has postponed construction to 2024, the BMW Blog has learned . BMW did not give an exact deadline for the postponement of the construction, but they confirmed that they are very committed to the construction of the factory. In May, they took over a plot within the industrial zone of the city of Debrecen. 5. GOOGLE IS ALSO INVESTING IN POLAND Google will invest up to two billion dollars in a new data center in Poland, in charge of their cloud services. The announcement of Google’s investment came just a month after Microsoft announced its investment. Thus, Poland is increasingly positioning itself as a technological leader in the region. The data center should start operating in early 2021. 6. MAGNA FACTORIES IN SLOVENIA AND SERBIA Canada's Magna, one of the major suppliers to the automotive industry, opened a paint factory in Slovenia in July 2019, after an investment of 150 million euros, SeeNews wrote . It was the largest greenfield investment in Slovenian history, and the Slovenian government gave Magna incentives of 18.6m euros for the project. In the first three years, they expected to employ 300 people, and the number of employees was to increase to at least 1,000 workers over ten years. But Magni, too, the coronavirus has complicated plans. Due to the decline in car sales, production was temporarily suspended in Slovenia, and about two hundred currently employed workers could continue to work at their sister factory in Graz, Austria, until production in Slovenia resumed. Magna has also invested in Serbia. They built their first factory in Odžaci in 2013 and employed 444 workers. In that factory, they produced seats for Renault, Ford and Smart, and the factory was further expanded in 2017. At that time, the number of employees increased to 1,200, and the plan is to employ another 550 workers. This year, too, they expanded their production capacities in Serbia, by opening a new factory in Aleksinac. The factory has already started operating and employs about a hundred people, and the plan is to expand to 1,000 employees and build a new plant. Therefore, Magna, according to the estimates of the local government, could employ over 3,000 workers.