SkyEurope Wants to Create New Base Outside Slovakia

Adding a base outside Slovakia to its so-far two bases is a priority of low-cost SkyEurope Airlines this year. „Second Boeing, which SkyEurope will import in October, will enable it to operate from a new base in central Europe,“ SkyEurope commercial director Pavol Mlady said on Wednesday on the occasion of naming its first Boeing after top model Adriana Sklenarikova-Karembeu. The 8×4 meters large picture of Adriana was recently fitted onto aircraft. Currently SkyEurope has two bases, on airports in Bratislava and Kosice. But Mr. Mlady did not elaborate the location of the third base.

Tesla Liptovsky Hradok Closed H1 2003 In Black

Tesla Liptovsky Hradok, supplier of telecommunications equipment, closed the first half of 2003 with a profit of SKK 4.7 million, up from a loss of SKK 23.3 million reported during the same period of the previous year. The company reached a midyear operating profit of SKK 9.4 million when financial operations brought it a loss of SKK 4.6 million.

OECD Entry Launches Fulfillment of Slovakia’s Integration Ambitions

The amalgamation of Slovakia into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) three years ago launched the fulfillment of Slovakia’s integration goals and ambitions. Today Slovakia is a useful member of this organization; it has been meeting its commitments and it is very successfully benefiting from this cooperation. Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda stated this at a press conference during a session of the OECD Council in the High Tatras on Thursday. Slovakia’s entry into NATO and the European Union will further intensify cooperation between Slovakia and OECD, he added.

Two State-Controlled Health Insurers SZP and VsZP to Merge

Health insurer Spolocna Zdravotna Poistovna (SZP) should merge with Slovakia’s largest health insurer Vseobecna Zdravotna Poistovna (VsZP) as of next year. The Health Ministry has submitted such a proposal for inter-departmental review. The aim of this merger is to solve SZP’s debt towards the special re-distribution pool, which has climbed to SKK 2 billion.

SkyEurope Airlines Already Transported 80,000 Passengers This Year

Low cost airline SkyEurope Airlines a.s., reached sales of SKK 230 million up to mid-September 2003. Over the same period of last year the company’s sales reached SKK 96 million, said SkyEurope’s director Pavol Mlady to SITA news agency. However, the company has only been providing its service since February 13, 2002. Mr. Mlady added that the company was still currently in the investment phase, yet some links are making operational profit. „In order to cover fixed costs we need to transport a certain amount of passengers, which could happen next year,“ said Mr. Mlady.

MAN Slovakia Sold 101 Trucks in Slovakia in H1 2003

Slovak arm of the German producer of commercial vehicles and engineering facilities MAN AG, MAN – Uzitkove Vozidla – Slovakia, s.r.o., earned a midyear profit of SKK 6.1 million on a turnover o SKK 295.6 million. The company sold 101 motor vehicles during this period. According to the MAN Slovakia director Roman Vrabec, the company has posted a moderate drop in the sale resulting in a decrease of its truck market share to 7.6 percent in late August.

IMF Expects Slovakia’s Current Account Deficit to Fall to 5 % in 2004

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects gross domestic product (GDP) in Slovakia to expand 4 percent this year and next, reads the midyear world economy report published by the IMF on Thursday. Average headline inflation in the country should reach 8.5 percent, going moderately down to 8.1 percent in 2004. The IMF prognosis predicts that the balance of payments‘ current account deficit should reduce from 8.2 percent of GDP last year to 6.3 percent of GDP this year and 5 percent of GDP one year thereafter. Slovakia should thus post the fastest economic growth out of central-European countries this year, while this title should go to Poland next year with economic growth of 4.1 percent. However, Slovakia should also report the highest inflation rate and current account deficit in 2003.

Phare Support for Tourism Reached SKK 86 Mln. in 2001 and 2002

The Economy Ministry presented its report on the National Tourism Development Program (NPRCR) to other sectors for comments. The report states that in 2001 and 2002 the ministry possessed EUR 2 million (SKK 86 million) for tourism development as part of the Phare program and its project called „Pilot Tourism Development Grant Scheme.“ Three quarters of that sum was donated by European Union funds and the remaining 25 percent were made up of state budget resources.

Istrokapital will Probably Be Majority Shareholder in Postova Banka

Financial company Istrokapital will probably become a majority shareholder in Postova Banka. „Istrokapital is resolved to make use of an opportunity to subscribe the whole proposed volume, i.e. over SKK 800 million in the case of disinterest from other shareholders,“ Istrokapital board member Miroslav Remeta told SITA. The majority shareholder of the bank so-far, state bailout agency Slovenska Konsolidacna (SKo) confirmed its non-participation in the capital increase in Postova Banka to STA. „SKo bodies decided this with regards to persisting company interest in selling its stake in Postova Banka soon,“ SKo spokesman Patrik Golsky told SITA.

Money Market Witnesses Livelier Trading on Thursday

The Slovak money market reported livelier trading on Thursday with huge volumes changing hands on the market. Commercial banks kept SKK 20.973 billion in their reserve accounts in the central bank, meeting the minimum reserve requirement on a cumulative basis at 100.95 percent, ING Bank dealer Martin Koska informed SITA.

STOCK MARKET: Mixed Trading Moves SAX Lower on Thursday

The official SAX share index as been moving in both directions this week, influenced chiefly by share price of crude oil refiner Slovnaft. Following the growth on Wednesday, the price of Slovnaft shares decreased on Thursday, dragging the SAX index down 0.66 percent, or 1.12 percentage points to 169.04 points. Turnover on the Bratislava Stock Exchange (BCPB) increased from SKK 178 million on Wednesday to SKK 390 million on Thursday with SKK 199 million in share trading.

FOREX MARKET: Crown Shed its Recent Gains on Thursday

Trading on the Slovak FOREX market on Thursday was not very successful for the Slovak crown, which weakened from the initial 41.33/41.36 SKK/EUR to 41.45 SKK/EUR. „This was caused by FOREX purchases by foreign banks,“ stated VUB dealer Mario Mika. Later the crown corrected its losses to end trading at 41.36/41.40 SKK/EUR.

Slovak Farmers are Concerned with Situation in Agriculture

Slovak Chamber of Agriculture and Food Industry (SPPK) expressed its concern over the development in the Slovak agriculture and food industry, especially with financing of the sector. On their meeting on Thursday the representatives of regional agricultural chambers of SPPK, and related farmers‘ associations thus agreed that their priorities are stabilization of the relationship between the government and organizations of farmers and they want government support to compensate losses caused to farmers by this year’s extremely dry and warm weather.

CSOB in Slovakia to Float First Issue of Mortgage-Backed Bonds

Prague-based CSOB, a.s. will float the first issue of mortgage-backed bonds amounting to SKK 400 million through its Slovak branch. The issue will comprise of 4,000 mortgage-backed bearer bonds at par value of SKK 100,000. The issue price will range between 90 and 100 percent. The bank will sell the bonds through a non-public offer to investors selected in advance, CSOB informed SITA.

Matador Group Generates H1 Added Value of SKK 1.269 Bln.

According to consolidated non-audited results, Matador group generated added value of SKK 1.269 billion in the first half of this year. Output of the group reached SKK 3.074 billion on production consumption of SKK 2.475 billion. It made an operating profit of SKK 240.7 million, while profit from financial operations amounted to SKK 3.1 million, according to midyear data provided by the group to the Bratislava Stock Exchange.

Jeffrey Merrfield of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Slovakia

Director of the Slovakia’s Nuclear Supervision Office (UJD) Marta Ziakova informed Jeffrey Merrfield from the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission about safety measures in Slovak nuclear power plants on their meeting on Thursday. Mr. Merrfield was interested in parameters of the newest VVER 440/V 213 nuclear reactors at the power station in Mochovce.

ZMOS: Wages in Public Sector Should be Bound to State Budget

Representatives of Slovak Association of Towns and Villages (ZMOS) met with leadership of Confederation of Trade Unions (KOZ) on Thursday. ZMOS declared after the meeting that it would be welcome if the collective agreement for the public sector contained a clause that the rise of wages of employees in the public administration would be bound to the state budget. Jozef Turcany of ZMOS said that the absence of this clause caused problems last year.