SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF GRANTED INVESTMENT INCENTIVES IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

: First investment incentives in the Czech Republic were granted in 1998. From 1998 to 2021 there were 1,319 granted investment incentives in total with 1,444 locations of implementation of the investment projects. The total amount of the supported investment projects reached nearly 983 billion CZK, and the applicants promised to create more than 203,000 new jobs. This paper evaluated the spatial distribution of the investment projects with granted investment incentive in the Czech Republic in the period 1998-2021. The spatial distribution was examined on the basis of three indicators calculated for the district level – the amount of investment per capita, the number of newly created jobs per 1,000 inhabitants and the state aid ceiling per capita. As the spatial distribution was investigated, spatial autocorrelation of each indicator was tested using the Moran test. In terms of calculated indicators, granted investment incentives in the Czech Republic were distributed unequally and tended to be clustered especially in the districts of the Ústí Region, the Central Bohemian Region and the Moravian-Silesian Region. The Moran test confirmed the presence of statistically significant spatial autocorrelation across all indicators related to granted investment incentives on the district level in the period 1998-2021.