Parties of the ruling coalition have defined their priorities for the next year’s state budget spending on the Coalition Council meeting on Tuesday. “We have agreed that the state budget will be adopted by consensus and that the coalition parties will not publish their priorities until the definite agreement is reached”, said leader of the Christian-Democratic Movement (KDH) Pavol Hrusovsky.

SMER Says Zajac’s Health Reform is Just a Step away from Euthanasia

The reforms of Health Minister Rudolf Zajac are “just a step away from euthanasia and a violation of the rights of some groups of citizens,“ the shadow health minister of the SMER party, Pavol Paska, told a news conference on Wednesday. He said that SMER rejects the extremely right-wing attitude of the reform. “It means that health care will not be accessible to everyone. Moreover, certain groups that are interested in a change in proprietary relations, rather than a consolidation and transformation of the health sector, would profit from it,” said Mr. Paska.

Immorent Slovensko Signed Contracts Worth SKK 2.058 Bln. over 2003

Leasing company Immorent Slovensko signed fourteen leasing contracts for real estate and technology in the total value of SKK 2.058 billion over the previous year. This represents an increase from 2002 by SKK 311 million, or 18 percent. In the real estate sector the summed contract value was SKK 1.909 billion, up SKK 356 million from 2002 and in the sector of technology leasing the total value was SKK 149 million, by SKK 45 million less than in 2002, informed the company.

PSS Provided SKK 4.438 Bln. in Housing Support Four Months into 2004

Housing construction savings bank Prva Stavebna Sporitelna, a.s. (PSS) provided SKK 4.438 billion in housing support in the first four months of this year. The aggregate volume of housing support since 1993 thus reached SKK 96.265 billion. Reconstruction swallowed up the biggest portion of the four-month housing support, specifically SKK 48.178 billion, while SKK 27.182 billion went to the acquisition of apartments and houses, and SKK 19.145 billion to new housing construction.

Regional Water Utility BVS Earns SKK 232.4 Mln. Profit in 2003

Regional water utility Bratislavska Vodarenska Spolocnost, a.s., (BVS) closed last year with a net profit of SKK 232.4 million. Output reached SKK 1.877 billion on production consumption of SKK 617.3 million. The company generated added value of SKK 1.259 billion last year. BVS made an operating profit of SKK 319.1 million, while its loss from financial operations reached SKK 11 million, according to the 2003 financial statement published by the company.

EIB Loan Will Finance Construction of Highway to Zilina

The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide Slovakia with a loan between SKK 17.5 billion and SKK 19 billion to finance the construction of the highway section Ladce-Zilina, which would complete the direct highway connection from Bratislava to Zilina. Slovak Transport Minister Pavol Prokopovic said at a press conference on Wednesday that the soon-to-be founded Dialnicna Spolocnost, a.s. would be the applicant and guarantor of the loan. Thus, the loan will not increase the government debt.

Industrial Bakery MPaC with Sales and Profit Drop in 2003

Industrial bakery Michalovske Pekarne a Cukrarne, a.s., Michalovce (MPaC) reported revenues from distribution of own products and services at SKK 86.57 million last year, which is a decrease by SKK 4.6 million from 2002. Revenues from sale of goods in its bakeries fell over SKK 9.66 million to SKK 20.8 million in 2003.

Doprastav Will Reinvest its 2003 Profit into its Development

Doprastav a.s. Bratislava ranking among the biggest construction companies in Slovakia wants to reinvestment over SKK 197.4 million from its last year’s net profit into its development. Doprastav director general Dusan Mraz specified that the company closed 2003 with a net profit of SKK 207.256 million, while a year ago it netted SKK 192.6 million. The company will allocate SKK 5.5 million to the social fund while SKK 4.32 million will be earmarked for director bonuses.

International Engineering Fair in Nitra Starts on May 25

The 11th annual international engineering fair starts on May 25 in Nitra and will last until May 28. More than 840 exhibitors and co-exhibitors, representing about two hundred firms from 25 countries, will present their products on an exhibition area of 28,100 square meters, said the exhibition grounds manager, Ladislav Svihal.

NBS Credit and Guarantee Register to Contain only Corporate Data

At its meeting on Wednesday the Bank Board of the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) approved an amendment to the NBS regulation on a credit and guarantee register. Only data on corporate entities should be put in the register after June 1. The measure stems from the revision to the Banking Act, which took effect on January 1, and its aim is to harmonize the NBS regulation with the revised Banking Act, NBS spokesman Igor Barat informed SITA.

Germanwings Will Decide on Flights to Bratislava this Year

German low-cost air carrier Germanwings is considering the idea of choosing the airport in Bratislava as another one of its bases. Joachim Klein, who is the director of Eurowings, which is the parent company of Germanwings, informed on Tuesday that they are negotiating with the representatives of the Bratislava airport. The decision should fall soon, the deadline is the end of this year. Bratislava would thus become the third base of Germanwings after Cologne and Stuttgart.

FOREX MARKET: Slovak Crown Firms to 40.220/270 SKK/EUR on Wednesday

The Slovak crown moderately strengthened midweek when its exchange rate towards its reference currency the euro moved from the opening 40.280/330 SKK/EUR to 40.160/210 SKK/EUR in the course of the session. Tatra Banka dealer Bibiana Valachova attributes the development to sale of foreign exchange for Slovak crowns. At the close of the session the SKK partially erased its gains and corrected to 40.220/270 SKK/EUR.

Higher VUB Share Price Pushed the SAX up to 187.98 Points on Tuesday

The official SAX share index strengthened midweek under the influence of rising share price of VUB banking house. It went up 0.23 percent or 0.43 points to 187.98 points. Turnover on the Bratislava Stock Exchange (BCPB), however, sharply dropped from SKK 7.563 billion on Tuesday to SKK 316.5 million on Wednesday with a mere SKK 5.3 million in share trading.

EC Initiates Budgetary Surveillance for Six New Members

European Commission initiated budgetary surveillance for six new EU member countries on Wednesday, including Slovakia. Deficits of public finances of six out of ten new EU member countries, namely Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Cyprus and Poland, have a general government deficit above three percent of gross domestic product (GDP), the Treaty reference value. As regards 2004, the European Commission (EC) as well as the national authorities indicates that the deficit expected to continue to exceed three percent of GDP reference value in all six countries. Cyprus and Malta recorded government debt levels above 60 percent of GDP Treaty reference value.

April Trading on Bratislava Stock Exchange Lowest This Year

Unfortunate events accompanying the introduction of the new information system of registering securities transactions at the Central Securities Depositary of the Slovak Republic (CDCP) that at the end of March paralyzed the stock market in Slovakia has left its mark on trading on Bratislava Stock Exchange (BCPB) also in April. In twenty trading days, the financial volume of 733 transactions reached mere SKK 9.3 billion, which is the lowest monthly level this year.

Samsung Electronics Slovakia Invests SKK 1 Bln. to Expand Production

Samsung Electronics Slovakia has invested SKK 1 billion into the construction and equipment of its new production hall that will create over a thousand new jobs. The company expects that when the new production hall will work full capacity, its turnover will grow from last year’s SKK 8 billion to SKK 65 billion in 2005.

Consumer Confidence in Slovakia Improved in April

Consumer confidence in Slovakia improved in April. Declining pessimism was reflected in the improvement of the indicator of consumer confidence by 3.2 points to minus 25.1 points. The indicator summarizes expectations of respondents in relation to economic development and unemployment in the country, expectation of financial situation and household savings.

Additional SKK 6 Bln. Return to Money Market on Wednesday

Settlement of maturing repo contracts on Wednesday left the interbank market in a considerable liquidity surplus. Slovenska Sporitelna dealer Pavel Janosik specified that banks held on their accounts SKK 6 billion more than dealers’ estimates. Mr. Janosik said that this amount came to the sector from the state budget. Commercial banks thus deposited SKK 21.11 billion in their reserve accounts in the central bank, meeting the minimum reserve requirement on a cumulative basis at 120.28 percent on Wednesday.

Compressor Producer Embraco Slovakia Boosts Production Volume

Producer of refrigerator and freezer components Embraco Slovakia s.r.o. Spiska Nova Ves will produce this year 3.6 million pieces of compressors, which is 70 percent more than last year, when the company produced 2.1 million compressors. The Slovak plant of Embraco will exploit this year almost 100 percent of its production capacity, which represents 3.67 million compressors.

RWE Gas Sold is Nafta Stake to Ruhrgas

RWE Gas International B.V. sold its 40.13 percent stake in the Slovak gas storage company, Nafta a.s. in Gbely to Essen-based Ruhrgas Energie Beteiligungs-AG, with effect form May 12. In its press release, RWE Gas writes that the move came as part of an adjustment of the international storage portfolio of RWE Gas International B.V. Non-German gas holdings in continental Europe have been bundled in the Dutch company RWE Gas International B.V., Hoofddorp.