The long-term upward trend of sales in industry continued in May. Industry sales increased 13.8 percent y/y in fixed prices to SKK 122.4 billion over May of this year. A 14.1-percent increase in manufacturing industry sales and a 14.5-percent sales growth in electricity, gas and water distribution was behind this development. Mining industry sales decreased by 17.1 percent, the Slovak Statistics Office informed on Monday.

Printing Plant Neografia Reports H1 Gross Profit of SKK 19.7 Mln.

Printing house Neografia, a.s., Martin, considered the most modern printing company in Slovakia, grossed SKK 19.7 million over the first half of this year. Sales of its own products and services amounted to SKK 870.4 million. The company generated added value of SKK 238.6 million in the first six months of 2004, company spokesman Ivan Kucma told SITA. “Year-on-year results exceeded the previous year’s level in all main indicators, but the plan had been even more progressive,” said Mr. Kucma. He ascribed the lower than planned results to the persisting decline in printing production demand.

Slovenske Aerolinie Transported 222,000 Passengers Last Year

Slovak airline Slovenske Aerolinie (SA) transported over 222,000 passengers last year, as opposed to 158,000 passengers in 2002. Flights numbered 2,092: a moderate increase from the previous year. The airline transported about 209,000 passengers on charter flights, a significant growth of almost 48 percent compared with the previous year. The number of charter flights rose by over two-thirds. Passengers in regular flights numbered almost 13,000, down from over 16,000 in 2002.

Wages Grew Fastest in the Telecommunications Sector in May

Average nominal monthly wages continued to grow in May in all selected sectors. The telecommunications sector showed the fastest growth: up 22.3 percent from May 2003. In the sector of motor vehicle sales and maintenance, nominal wage growth was 16.9 percent, while the nominal wage grew by 11.3 percent in the wholesale business, 9.9 percent in the postal sector, 8.7 percent in retail trade, 8.4 percent in transport, 8.2 percent in the building industry, 6.3 percent in hotels and restaurants, 6.2 percent in real estate, rental, trade activities and other services and 3.9 percent in industry, reports the Slovak Statistics Office.

SE Electricity Output at 12,830 GWh in H1 2004

Dominant Slovak power producer Slovenske Elektrarne a.s., (SE) generated 2,166.8 GWh in June. This is 85 GWh more than in June 2003. SE met its business plan at 103.9 percent, company spokeswoman Jana Kaplanova told SITA. The H1 electricity output reached 12,829.5 GWh. The power producer’s exports ranged between 700 MW and 1,009 MW in June.

FinMin will Not Draft a Bill on Transparency of Financial Relations

The Finance Ministry does not find it necessary to adopt a special law on transparency of financial relations. In line with the schedule of cabinet legislative tasks, the Finance Ministry was supposed to submit to the cabinet a draft bill in April to harmonize Slovak legislation with European directives on transparent financial relations between EU member countries and public companies. According to the Finance Ministry, provisions from EU directives concerning budgetary performance and accounting will be included in already existing laws and, therefore, the cabinet should as soon as possible cancel the ministry’s task to draft a bill on transparency of financial relations.

H1 Tax and Customs Revenues in Slovakia at SKK 110.93 Bln.

Tax and customs offices in Slovakia collected SKK 110.93 billion in the first half of this year, exceeding the plan by 10.94 percent. The collected sum represented 55.47 percent of the annual plan. Tax revenues accounted for almost SKK 107.935 billion and were SKK 10.317 billion higher than expected. Non-tax revenues of SKK 2.995 billion were SKK 620 million above plan, the Tax Directorate informed SITA on Monday. Local tax collection for goods and services dominated tax revenues in the period from January to June, amounting to SKK 71.146 billion, meeting the H1 plan at 101.57 percent. Thereof the state collected SKK 50.887 billion in value-added taxes six months into 2004, while excise tax collection reached SKK 19.344 billion. Road tax brought SKK 915.474 million into the state budget. The state registered an SKK 1.104 billion shortfall in excise tax collection.

Employment Rate Continued Rising in May

Sectors of retail trade and the sale and maintenance of motor vehicles posted the highest year-on-year employment growth in May, reaching 4 percent. The building industry reported a 2.1-percent y/y growth. In the sector of real estate, renting, and other public services, employment grew 3.4 percent y/y, reported the Slovak Statistics Office on Monday. On the other hand, employment decreased in hotels and restaurants, down 6.9 percent y/y. The number of working people fell in the telecommunications sector (down 4.7 percent), transport (down 3.2 percent), in industry (1.8 percent), the postal sector (down 0.8 percent) and the wholesale business sector (0.4 percent).

Pavol Rusko Accuses Flasik of Preventing Completion of Land Purchase

The activities by businessman Fedor Flasik in cooperation with SMER deputy Juraj Blanar is preventing a successful completion of the purchase of plots from landowners for Korean car maker Hyundai/Kia. Economy Minister Pavol Rusko said at a press conference on Monday that prior to Mr. Flasik’s initiative, the ministry and landowners who disagreed with the sum set by experts, were on the right path to forging an agreement. “We would have clinched an agreement, but Mr. Blanar and Mr. Flasik caused the likelihood of agreement with the landowners to drop from 80 to 20 percent,” he said, adding that they are sponging off and blackmailing the government.

Ministry to Present Three Options to Disclose Investment Contracts

The Slovak Economy Ministry is preparing a material for the Slovak cabinet, which will be dealing with pros and cons of three alternatives in connection with parliament’s resolution on publishing the investment contracts with the PSA Peugeot Citroen and Hyundai/Kia carmakers. The first concerns not publishing the contracts at all, the second relates to publishing parts of the contracts concerning public finances, and the third option will be to publish the whole investment contracts. „The alternatives will specify the pros and cons and risks. The cabinet will be able to give its stance to them on Wednesday and we will accept its decision,“ said Slovak Economy Minister Pavol Rusko at a press conference on Monday.

Jasna Nizke Tatry Shareholders Approve Annual Report for 2003

Shareholders in the tourist report company Jasna Nizke Tatry, a.s. Demanovska Dolina, approved the company’s annual report, including the annual financial statements for the 2003 at their general meeting. Jasna Nizke Tatry operates a ski resort on the northern slopes of Mr. Chopok in the Low Tatras, as well as hotels and restaurants. The company’s general meeting took place on July 12. As company spokesman of 1. garantovana Jan Zach told SITA, last year’s loss of SKK 8.1 million is the lowest in past years.

Way Industry Krupina Reports 2003 Turnover of SKK 699.2 Mln.

Engineering company Way Industry Krupina that among produces road building machinery as well as the mine-clearing device „Bozena“ for the Slovak Army reported a turnover of SKK 699.2 million in 2003. Compared with the previous year this means a drop by 10.1 percent. Last year the company manufactured 426 loaders and their sales exceeded SKK 300 million. Firming by the Slovak currency and weakening of the US dollar reflected in the company’s economic performance. Sales were SKK 20 million below plan because of foreign exchange fluctuations. The company exports more than 70 percent of its output, among its export destinations are European Union countries, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka.

Slovak Clients Kept USD 368 Mln. in Foreign Bank Accounts Last Year

Deposits of clients from Slovakia in bank accounts abroad represented more than 68 USD per capita last year at a fixed rate from the year 1985. In total, according to figures from the Bank for International Clearing in Basel, Slovak residents held USD 368 million in banks abroad the first half of 2003. As Unibanka analyst Viliam Patoprsty informed, this data includes deposits by citizens and companies and they do not contain resources of commercial banks.

STOCK MARKET: A Transfer of IS Kosice Shares Dominates Market

The Slovak share index SAX fell from its historical high by 2.02 percent or 4.08 points to 197.58 points under the influence of a weakening share price of crude oil refiner Slovnaft and VUB banking house at the beginning of the new trading week. The total volume of transactions on the Bratislava Stock Exchange (BCPB) increased from SKK 442.5 million on Friday to SKK 1.437 billion on Monday, with SKK 678 million in share trading. Through direct transactions three packages of civil engineering company Inzinierske Stavby (IS) Kosice changed hands. The traded shares represent about 95 percent of the company’s share assets.

Tug of War Continues over Telecommunications Market Liberalization

If the Telecommunications Office does not change some of the provisions in its decision on terms for the interconnection of networks between alternative operators and Slovak Telecom, most of the alternative operators will probably not sign interconnection agreements with Slovak Telecom. According to a statement issued on Monday, representatives of the Association of Telecommunications Operators (ATO) insist on their demand that the Telecommunications Office precisely set the interconnection price and change the terms regulating the location of operators’ interconnection points. On the other hand, Slovak Telecom continues to insist on the reservations it raised in its appeal against the Telecommunications Office’s decision on terms for the interconnection of networks with alternative operators. „We insist that the interconnection points must be located in Slovak Telecom buildings and within our infrastructure,“ Slovak Telecom spokesman Radoslav Belka said in response to the earlier statement by ATO.

FOREX MARKET: Central Bank Intervenes Against Strong Crown Again

Continuous firming of the Slovak currency towards the euro since last week’s intervention forced the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) to enter the market again on Monday. “The NBS intervened directly against the appreciation of the Slovak crown closely below 39.800 SKK/EUR,” said CSOB dealer Richard Brza. The Slovak crown firmed gradually to this level from the opening 39.880 SKK/EUR (middle). Waves of interventions moved the exchange rate to 39.990 SKK/EUR. The US dollar continued moving against the euro when it got to 1.2390 USD/EUR. The Slovak crown thus was at 32.130/160 SKK/USD. The cross rate of the Slovak and Czech crowns was 1.2640/1.2660 SKK/CZK.

Rating of TV Stations to be Measured by Peoplemeters from August

Peoplemeters for measuring ratings of the TV stations in Slovakia were installed in the recent days to eight-hundred TV sets in selected homes by the TNS SK, s.r.o. agency. As Jaroslav Kolar of the Neopublic agency informed SITA, testing operation will be launched on August 15 and the first results of electric rating measurement will be known on October 15. TNS SK in this way finished the second stage of the project almost a month ahead of schedule.

MONEY MARKET: Demand of Banks for T-Bills Climbed to SKK 6.38 Bln.

An auction of one-year T-bills brought new life to trading on the interbank market on Monday. Demand of commercial banks climbed to SKK 6.38 billion, but the Finance Ministry accepted only SKK 840 million on the average yield of 3.59 percent. On Monday, commercial banks kept SKK 20.107 billion in their minimum reserve accounts in the central bank, meeting the reserve requirement on a cumulative basis at 89.22 percent. The central bank will hold its regular sterilization repo tender on Tuesday. Excess liquidity pushed down the prices of short interbank deposits. Overnights and tom/nexts were quoted at 3.2/3.4 percent p.a. on Monday when spot/nexts were at 4.0/4.2 percent p.a. Nine-month deposits were quoted at 3.5/3.7 percent p.a. and twelve-month deposits closed at 3.4/3.6 percent p.a.

Slovakia to Contribute SKK 15.5 Bln to the EU Budget Next Year

According to updated calculations, the expected level of Slovakia’s contribution to the general budget of the European Union amount to SKK 15.519 billion. This transpires from information on the EU budget for next year and starting position of the Slovak Republic in the process of the EU budget approval in the context of the Slovak Republic’s interests. The document was prepared by the Finance Ministry and it should be discussed by the Slovak cabinet soon.

Hypocentrum Arranged Mortgages Amounting to SKK 27.5 Mln. from April

Since its establishment in April of this year, mortgage broker Hypocentrum, s.r.o. has arranged mortgages on behalf of its clients in the volume of SKK 27.5 million, with home loans amounting to SKK 39 million being in the preparatory stage. „Interest in financing of purchases of real estate is also appearing among foreigners living in Slovakia,“ says Hypocentrum’s director Zuzana Laukova. Almost one-third of more than two hundred clients was interested in a complete arrangement of a mortgage, including complete administration service. Hypocentrum’s Miroslava Mitkova informed.