The chances of bringing Zala County into line with others concerning development assistance of enterprises

Abstract

The prolonged economic crisis has brought to the surface the drastic differences in developments and dynamics of growth across different regions. It is still an open question whether an underdeveloped county belonging to a more developed region with a relatively favourable regional economic environment can catch up to the regional or domestic average. Empirical evidences show that to eliminate the historically evolved underprivileged situation, more perceptible ’positive discrimination’ is needed. However, the determination of the region or county is not enough in itself. Regions and counties should also have more say in the disposal of their own developmental resources, which they could use to reduce regional differences. The present paper, beyond the comparative analysis of the economic efficiency of Zala County and the West Pannon Region and their position relative to the domestic average, also examines the tendering operations of enterprises in the county during the first and second period of the National Development Plan. It also covers the ability of enterprises to obtain resources, and the effectiveness of their tendering operations. It separately analyses the loan scheme of the Hungarian Development Bank, within which enterprises can obtain subsidized loans. This credit construction helps the consolidation of companies significantly, which, in turn, helps the growth of the entire county.