The main obstacle to improving the competitiveness of Hungarian enterprises is the shortage of capital. At the press conference of the "Citizens about the Budget" project, Clean Air Action Group proposed a solution to this problem.

According to an important study by the World Bank, the preponderant form of capital in every country is intangible capital, i.e. “human capital and the quality of formal and informal institutions”. Furthermore, the share of intangible capital is much higher in rich countries than in poor countries. According to the study, intangible capital “includes human capital, the skills and know-how embodied in the labour force. It encompasses social capital, that is, the degree of trust among people in a society and their ability to work together for common purposes. It also includes those governance elements that boost the productivity of the economy. For example, if an economy has a very efficient judicial system, clear property rights, and an effective government, the result will be a higher total wealth and thus an increase in the intangible capital residual.”

We get a similar picture, if we examine the components of the assets of companies. For example, in 1975, tangible assets constituted 83 % of all assets of the 500 biggest US companies, while intangible assets only 17 %. In 2010, the proportion was practically the opposite: 20 % and 80 %, respectively. (Tangible assets: assets that have a physical form, e.g. machinery, buildings, land, money. Intangible assets: nonphysical assets, e.g. knowledge, know-how, patents, trademarks, copyrights, goodwill, brand recognition.)

Consequently for supplying Hungarian enterprises with more capital, public funds should not be spent on concrete and asphalt, increased energy consumption, and establishing car and tyre factories. The development of our economy and the improvement of our competitiveness could be served best by increasing support to areas like education, health care, culture, energy efficiency, environmental protection, efficient governance and the fight against corruption. In accordance with this, Clean Air Action Group proposed the regrouping of about 2400 billion Forints (about 8 billion Euros) in the Government's budgetary proposal for the year of 2016.