Member News

SARIO Newsletter: ECONOMY NEWS

The Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic supported 42 investment plans during this parliamentary term. As the ministry said further, thereof 31 projects were directed to central or eastern Slovakia, where almost 4,500 new jobs will be created. The total volume of supported investments during this parliamentary term should exceed 1 billion euros and create more than 6,700 new jobs. Investment aid exceeded 207 million euros, of which almost 130 million euros represents income tax relief. Last time, the government approved the investment incentives of almost 14 million euros for five companies in mid-January. The Bardejov-based company Kamax Fasteners received the highest incentive, namely in the sum of 5 million euros. The Michalovce-based company Sladovňa received the lowest aid, i.e. 550,000 euros. Thanks to these incentives, in total 450 jobs are to be created.

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) confirmed Slovakia’s A+ rating with a stable outlook. The agency argued with positive economic growth outlooks, a well-capitalized banking sector, a stable fiscal policy, a low foreign debt.

2019 was a record year for Slovakia in terms of mergers and acquisitions. Last year, foreign investors in Slovakia completed 59 transactions worth more than 1 billion euros. The real estate trade was the most successful. The biggest investment in 2019 was the purchase of a stake in the CME enterprise by the Czech business PPF Group.

Slovakia will have a new model of drawing on EU funds. The change regards the decision making on projects, which will be in the hands of local self-governments. Ministries will oversee the entire process, while the state’s role will be technical support for projects.

2019 brought fewer jobs than the previous two years. Job portal Profesia.sk published more than 262,000 job offers last year, this is the lowest number. 2017 remains a record year, when employers were looking for new staffers in nearly 275,000 job ads.

Inequality in Slovakia is falling slowly; women have improved their statistics in salaries. Slovakia was assigned 54.1 points out of 100, when one point means total inequality and one hundred points total equality. The smallest difference is in Sweden, where equality is at the level of 83.6 points. The biggest inequality was in Hungary with 51.9 points, followed by Greece with 51.2 points and Slovakia.

Compliments of SARIO – Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency, a Member of the EACCNY