EconomyOther Economy

EU Commission Confirms Threat of Not Re-paying Expenses on Dodgy Tender

Brussels, June 3 (TASR-CORRESPONDENT) - The European Commission is looking into a tender announced by the Slovak Agriculture Ministry in 2006 for informatisation of the Agricultural Payment Agency (PPA) and has confirmed that it may not re-pay its portion if it is proven that the public procurement didn't take place in accordance with the valid rules. TASR has been provided… read more

Analysts: 2010 Deficit Will Reach 7.4 percent If Nothing Changes

Bratislava, June 2 (TASR) - Unless substantial measures in the area of public finances are adopted, the public-finance deficit will climb to 7.4 percent of GDP this year, according to a survey of members of the Club of Economic Analysts (KEA) that was released on Wednesday. The Government's official objective for 2010 is to cut the deficit from 6.8 percent of GDP in 2009… read more

Banks Begin Lending More Despite Lingering Hangover from 2008

Bratislava, June 1 (TASR) - The ability of bank clients to pay back loans continued to deteriorate in the first quarter of 2010, according to Slovakia's central bank NBS, and yet the amount of newly-provided credit rose year-on-year. Banks approached by TASR on Tuesday largely agreed that this is the trend. NBS's figures show that the volume of defaulted housing-related… read more

Business Alliance: Opposition Has Better Ideas for Business Environment

Bratislava, June 1 (TASR) - The programmes of the opposition parties include the best measures for improving the business environment in Slovakia, said executive director of the Business Alliance of Slovakia (PAS) Robert Kicina at a press conference on Tuesday. The table drawn up by PAS gives the top spot to SDKU-DS, which gained 68 points out of 100. The Christian Democrats… read more

Budget Deficit Rose to €2.078 billion to End of May

Bratislava, June 1 (TASR) - The budget deficit increased to €2.078 billion to the end of May after standing at €1.480 billion at the end of April, the Finance Ministry reported on Monday. In May 2009, the deficit reached €832 million. The deficit for the whole of 2010 is planned to reach €3.746 billion. According to the ministry, budget revenues to May… read more

Court Announces Bankruptcy of Air Slovakia

Bratislava, June 1 (TARS) - Slovak airline Air Slovakia has gone bankrupt, Bratislava I District Court has ruled, halting the restructuring of the company and announcing bankruptcy proceedings for its property on Tuesday. The carrier has also lost its licence, as it didn't appeal against an earlier ruling by the Transport Ministry. "Therefore, the ruling came into effect… read more

RUZ: State Will Collect Lower Tax Revenues Due to Crisis

Bratislava, May 31 (TASR) - According to secretary of the Republican Union of Employers (RUZ) Martin Hostak, Slovakia will collect lower tax revenues in 2009 than assumed, he told TASR following the tripartite (labour, government and business) session in Bratislava on Monday. "The prognoses of the economists also point to this. It's a natural consequence of the global… read more

Marcincin: SMEs Neglected in Slovakia

Bratislava, May 31 (TASR) - The potential of small and medium-sized enterprises is currently being neglected in Slovakia, Christian Democrats (KDH) vice-chair for economy Anton Marcincin told TASR on the sidelines of a KDH-organised seminar entitled 'Recovery of Economic Growth' on Monday. According to former central bank (NBS) vice-governor Martin Barto, moderator of… read more

Kiesel Recalled as SARIO Chief, Heads for Diplomatic Mission

Bratislava, May 31 (TASR) - Economy Minister Lubomir Jahnatek on Monday recalled Juraj Kiesel from the post of general director of the Slovak Trade and Investment Development Agency (SARIO), with President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Slovakia Robert Simoncic put in charge of the agency as of June 1, Vahram Chuguryan of the ministry's communications department said… read more

New Highway Section Linking Bratislava and Zilina Opened

Povazska Bystrica, May 31 (TASR) - As much as 70 percent of the traffic on the I/61 road through Povazka Bystrica (Trencin region) will be diverted as of Monday to the newly opened Sverepec-Vrtizer section of the D1 motorway (Trencin and Zilina region). An almost ten-kilometre-long section with a flyover above Povazska Bystrica was ceremonially opened on Sunday evening… read more

Number of Unemployed in Bratislava Region Almost Doubled in 2009

Bratislava, May 31 (TASR) - The total number of job seekers in Bratislava region grew by 7,433 year-on-year to 15,853 to December 31, 2009, according to the Slovak Statistics Office. The region's share of overall unemployment in Slovakia stood at 4.2 percent. Around 46.3 percent of the jobless were women. The overall unemployment rate in the region stood at 4.36… read more

UNAS: Q-Free and Sky-Toll at Loggerheads Over Road-toll System

Bratislava, May 28 (TASR) - Q-Free and Sky-Toll, who are supplying and operating Slovakia's road toll-collection system, are at loggerheads, accusing each another of causing frequent breakdowns in the system, the Slovak Union of Hauliers (UNAS) said on Friday. Supplier Q-Free and operator Sky-Toll are currently in talks to reduce the scope and value of the contract at… read more

Modern Railway Station in Teplicka nad Vahom Will Speed Up Transport

Teplicka nad Vahom, May 28 (TASR) - A special new railway station covering an area of 80 hectares was opened by Transport Minister Lubomir Vazny in Teplicka nad Vahom near Zilina on Friday. According to Vazny, the area of Zilina is a natural junction for both road and railway transport, so the station makes sense. "There's an industrial park in Zilina, while another is… read more

Trust Indicator in Economy Largely Unchanged in May

Bratislava, May 28 (TASR) - The Index of Economic Sentiment (IES), which shows the level of trust in the Slovak economy, remained largely unchanged in May when compared to April, the Slovak Statistics Office announced on Friday. The IES went up 0.2 percentage points on a monthly basis to 90.5, with negative developments in all but one of its components cancelled out by… read more

Transport Ministry Will Have to Reopen Negotiations to Fund Motorways

Bratislava, May 27 (TASR) - Slovakia's Transport Ministry has said that it had to adjourn talks earlier on Thursday with the European Commission to arrange for the funding of building part of the D1 motorway via public private partnership (PPP) projects because of as-yet unspecified objections from the European Commission. The new date for negotiations has tentatively… read more