January 22, 2024 MONDAY #7208
POLITICS bert Šimončič said. In 2022, it was 31 projects
President Civic candidate Ivan Korčok sub-
mitted 40,000 signatures for a presidential
bid. If elected, he wants to create a balance to
government actions. PS and SaS have already
backed him. (aktuality.sk)
Peter Pellegrini, Speaker of Parliament and
Hlas leader, officially launched his presidential
bid. Smer immediately expressed its support.
If successful, Pellegrini will resign as head of
both Parliament and Hlas. He would be re-
placed by Denisa Saková or Richard Raši. He
did not comment on his sexual orientation,
despite the SNS rumors; he only said that if he
wins, he will not be accompanied by a First
Lady or any other person. (aktuality.sk)
Ukraine PM Robert Fico, who will meet his
Ukrainian counterpart Denys Shmyhal this
week, said Slovakia will veto Ukraine's admis-
sion to NATO. He described Ukraine as one of
the most corrupt countries, where Western
aid is being misappropriated. He thinks
Ukraine should cede territory to Russia to se-
cure peace. Slovakia will send limited humani-
tarian aid to Ukraine, but no more equipment
from Slovak army warehouses. The govern-
ment won’t prohibit commercial arms deliver-
ies to Ukraine.
PS leader Michal Šimečka described Fico's
remarks as callous and vulgar and said Fico
lacks basic human empathy and a geopolitical
compass. "I am ashamed of such a prime min-
ister," he added. (rtvs.sk)
Government Some 145,000 people have al-
ready backed a call for the resignation of Cul-
ture Minister Martina Šimkovičová (SNS), a
Slovak record for similar petitions. The peti-
tion’s sponsors point to the "unsystematic and
non-transparent" allocation of state subsidies
for culture and hate towards the LGBTI com-
munity. Neither SNS nor Šimkovičová see any
reason to resign. But the ministry has deleted
all its FB posts since the election, including
those inciting hatred. (trend.sk)
ECONOMY
Defense Defence Minister Robert Kaliňák
(Smer) sent €100m to state and semi-state
defense factories at the end of last year.
There has been no public debate about the
huge sum, and apparently it has not been as-
sessed by the Value for Money unit either.
Kaliňák said the money would fund new tech-
nologies in companies that won new contracts
after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Interest-
ingly, the increase in production also gener-
ates high profits that can be used to finance
investments.
Some of the money goes to ammunition
maker ZVS holding, where the state has 50%,
but which is controlled by Czechoslovak Group
(Michal Strnad). When Smer was not in gov-
ernment, Kaliňák set up a hunting rifle firm,
Liwa Arms, which is located on the premises of
ZVS holding. This company recently signed a
€145m framework contract for the supply of
ammunition for Zuzana howitzers.
(dennikN.sk)
Investments The FDI agency Sario closed 25
projects worth €1.2bn last year, its head Ró-
Published by Symsite Research since 1994 www.symsite.sk
the more they were willing to change jobs be-
worth €1.9bn. Last year, high value-added
projects accounted for 40% and the automo-
tive sector for 30%. Investors mainly came
from Germany, the US and South Korea. The
state is preparing new industrial parks in
Šurany, Sabinov, Valaliky, Rimavská Sobota
and Prešov. The agency has 63 projects worth
€11.6bn in the pipeline. (hnonline.sk)
eGovernment The digital wallet is tentatively
planned to be launched in 2026, the IT Minis-
try said. Citizens will be able to store their ID
and driving licenses, birth certificates or di-
plomas in it and will use it to access eGovern-
ment services. (hnonline.sk)
Automotive Slovak carmakers plan to in-
crease production to 1.13m vehicles this year
from last year's 1.08m. Volkswagen's Bratisla-
va plant will start production of the Škoda Su-
perb limousine version and will continue
preparations for the production of the electric
Porsche Cayenne, which it plans to launch in
the second half of the decade. Kia in Žilina
plans production at last year's level of 343,000
vehicles. Stellantis in Trnava will start produc-
tion of the electric Citroën C3 model and plans
to increase production by 12,000 to 277,000
vehicles. (teraz.sk)
Energy Companies are protesting the pro-
posal of the new head of the energy regulator
ÚRSO, Jozef Holjenčík, to abolish discounts on
the system operation fee TPS for large com-
panies introduced in 2022. The then govern-
ment introduced three TPS bands, and large
companies save €170m annually as a result.
Holjenčík wants all firms to pay the same TPS
and will present specific proposals later.
(hnonline.sk)
Machinery Vodohospodárska výstavba, a
state-owned firm, called a new tender for
cranes for the Gabčíkovo water dam, expect-
ing a price of €14.6m. In the previous tender,
it received only two bids, from Fern EPC and
Sytiq. (sita.sk)
Jobs Employee compensation in Slovakia
rose from 36% of GDP to 43% in 2011-22,
while the EU average remained at 44%. Falling
unemployment has thus changed the way
value added is shared in the economy. Slo-
vakia's share is now higher than in Italy or Ire-
land. (hnonline.sk)
Two thirds of Slovaks have looked for a new
job in the last year and 24% have been to a job
interview. The expected starting salary is
most often €1,250-1,500, according to a
Stem/Mark survey for Home Credit. 12%
would not be willing to earn less than €2,000.
Meanwhile, the average salary is just over
€1,400, according to ŠÚ data. In the interview,
people were most interested in salary (83%),
place of work (51%) and benefits (48%).
(teraz.sk)
If a new job paid the same, but was closer to
home, 46% of Slovaks would make a hop, ac-
cording to a platy.sk survey. In the case of a
lower salary offer, the share would be 20%.
People with low incomes have to commute
most often. The higher people's education,
businessnews@symsite.sk © All rights reserved
cause of commuting. (sme.sk)
Jobs The unemployment rate stagnated at
3.9% in December, the labor office ÚPSVR re-
ported. Unemployment over the past 12
months:
5,0
3,0
1-23 4-23 7-23 10-23
The number of job seekers, 141,400, was
near the lowest level in 23 years. (trend.sk)
Rates The average mortgage rate in Slovakia
stood at 4.06% in November and was just
above the eurozone average of 4.05%, the Eu-
ropean Central Bank reported. The rate
ranged from 3.52% in France to 5.89% in Esto-
nia. (finsider.sk)
CORPORATE NEWS
Food Colombian cocoa producer Casa Luker
acquired 70% in the chocolate factory Lyra Ni-
tra (Karol Stýbl). With the new owner, Lyra in-
creased its sales from €4.8m in 2022 to last
year's €7m and plans further development
with a guarantee of quality input materials.
Stýbl sold the stake for €5-10m after the pan-
demic hurt his business. (forbes.sk)
Mining Canada’s Bulgold, namely its subsidi-
ary Stredné Slovensko, has applied for a per-
mit for six exploratory drillings in the vicinity
of Žiar nad Hronom, where it plans gold and
silver mining. Local villages are opposed to
mining, though. (hnonline.sk)
Transport A court okayed a debt restructur-
ing (write-off) for Výskumný ústav dopravný
(Ján Škvara and Ľubomír Palčák), a transport
consultancy. After losing lucrative state con-
tracts under the Smer government, it reported
a loss of €0.6m in 2022 on revenues of €3.4m
and owed €78,000 in payroll levies alone.
(dennikn.sk)
MISCELLANEOUS
Lazar One of the richest Slovaks, Michal Laz-
ar (66), has succumbed to oncological disease.
He was a co-owner of Tatravagónka, develop-
er Immocap, and car dealer Top Auto. His
business activities will reportedly be taken
over by his daughter Michaela. (startitup.sk)
Sport Slovak skier Petra Vlhová, the main at-
traction of this weekend's World Cup races in
Jasná, suffered an injury in the very first run
and her season is over. Organizers of the
€3.8m event are pleased with the attendance
of over 10,000 spectators.
Euribor and ECB exchange rates:
1M 3M 6M 1Y
3.854% 3.958% 3.908% 3.655%
USD 1.0887 GBP 0.8583 CHF 0.9459
CZK 24.813 HUF 381.53 PLN 4.3618