January 18, 2024 THURSDAY #7206
EU higher tuition fee income from foreign stu-
Rates European Central Bank president Chris-
tine Lagarde said the bank is likely to cut in-
terest rates this summer. Since July 2022, the
ECB has raised its key rates from zero to the
current 4.5%, and markets expect it to start
cutting rates from April. (teraz.sk)
POLITICS
Corruption The European Parliament con-
demned the planned changes to the Criminal
Code and the abolition of Special Prosecutors,
which threaten the integrity of judicial pro-
cesses, undermine the EU’s fight against
fraud, and put the EU's financial interests at
risk. Fully 496 out of 705 MEPs voted in favor
of the resolution. If the Slovak parliament ap-
proves the changes, the European Commis-
sion may propose the suspension of EU funds.
PM Robert Fico sees "dirty work" by Slovak
opposition MEPs behind the EP resolution.
(aktuality.sk)
Army Slovakia has still not received €700m
from the EU as compensation for the military
equipment donated to Ukraine, Defence Min-
ister Robert Kaliňák noted. His predecessor,
Jaroslav Naď, explained that the compensa-
tion is to be paid to Slovakia by the US. It will
be provided only if we buy Viper helicopters
as a discount on the price. Kaliňák considers
these helicopters unnecessary. Slovakia has
been promised another €150m from the Eu-
ropean Peace Facility for handing over MiG
jets to Ukraine. Hungary is blocking the dis-
bursement of money from this facility.
(rtvs.sk)
ECONOMY
Jobs Slovakia could soon experimentally in-
troduce a 4-day working week, PM Robert Fi-
co said at the World Economic Forum in Da-
vos. He thinks the attitude of business to-
wards this option has changed since the pan-
demic. At the same time, he acknowledged
that Slovakia faces labor shortages. "The first
challenge for my government is how to attract
foreigners to our labor market," he added. He
wants to focus on attracting wealthy people to
invest here, for whom he will prepare so-
called golden visas. (pravda.sk)
Transport Transport Minister Jozef Ráž wants
to call a tender soon in which airlines will
compete for a subsidy for the Košice-
Gothenburg and Košice-Bratislava regular
flights. This subsidy will be made possible by
new legislation approved by parliament this
week. The first line is required by the Volvo
car maker and the second line is needed by
Slovakia, according to Ráž. (teraz.sk)
Healthcare Medical faculties will accept 20%
(150) more Slovak students in September this
year, Parliament Speaker Peter Pellegrini an-
nounced. The state will provide additional
funding. (sme.sk) In 2022, then Finance Minis-
ter Igor Matovič announced a similar deal, un-
der which the faculties were to increase the
number of Slovak students by 500. The deal
never materialized as faculties receive much
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6th-lowest in the EU, at 472. The figure rose
dents.
Tram The city of Bratislava admitted it will
not meet the September deadline for the
completion of the 4 km tram line in Petržalka.
The original deadline was the end of 2023, but
Petržalka mayor Ján Hrčka had previously
stated that the completion is expected in
2025. The original price of €74.6m has been
increased to €89.5m. The line is being built by
the Polish company Aldesa. (yimba.sk)
Nature Environment Minister Tomáš Taraba
has no plans to create new national parks. He
has halted the preparation of the 18,000 ha
Danube National Park, which was to stretch
along the Danube River from Devín to Štúrovo
and connect to existing national parks in Aus-
tria and Hungary. Taraba favors the use of na-
ture for agriculture or logging over its protec-
tion. He stressed that national parks generate
annual losses of €24m and wants to promote
employment in them. (sme.sk, yimba.sk)
eCommerce Sales of 5,800 Slovak online
stores using the Shoptet platform increased
by 27% to €365m last year. The end of last
year was particularly strong. The number of
orders increased by a third and the average
order value dropped by €4 to €75. According
to the platform, small and medium-sized e-
shops maintained steady growth. The per-
fumes and cosmetics segment saw the largest
growth in 2023 (63%). Electronics posted a
slight decline. (teraz.sk)
Energy Gas consumption fell by 6% annually
last year and was 30% lower compared to
2021, SPP reported. Similarly, Czech consump-
tion fell to its lowest level in 30 years. In Slo-
vakia, consumption fell amid warm weather
and a three-month production shutdown at
the Duslo fertilizer plant, which accounts for
more than a tenth of Slovak gas consumption.
SPP expects consumption to grow this year,
due to falling prices and generous state subsi-
dies that do not foster savings. (dennikN.sk)
Telecom Mobile phone operator O2 has al-
ready expanded its 5G network coverage to
just over 70% of the population. Orange’s
coverage stands at 66%, Slovak Telekom’s at
52% and 4ka’s at 10%. (zive.sk)
Rates The average consumer credit rate in
Slovakia was 9.66% in November, the 4th-
highest in the eurozone, ECB data show. NBS
data show an average rate of 11.05%, the
highest in seven years. (trend.sk)
Tourism The number of nights spent at tour-
ist accommodation establishments in the EU
reached 2.92bn in 2023, up 1.6% from previ-
ous record holder 2019, Eurostat reported.
The growth was driven by international
guests. Slovakia was among the 14 EU coun-
tries where tourist numbers were below the
2019 level last year, by about 15%. (Eurostat)
Automotive The number of cars per thou-
sand inhabitants in Slovakia in 2022 was the
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40% over the past decade, the 4th-highest
pace in the Union, Eurostat data show. The EU
average rose 14% to 560. Italy had the most
cars (684) and Romania the fewest (414).
Number of cars per thousand inhabitants:
2022 2012
Czechia 598 448
Poland 572 492
Austria 571 542
Slovakia 472 337
Hungary 424 301
(Eurostat)
CORPORATE NEWS
eCommerce GymBeam (Dalibor Cicman), an
online store with nutritional supplements and
sportswear, increased sales 62% to €170m last
year and its workforce swelled to 500. In 2019,
it had 100 employees and €20m sales. Since
then it has expanded into 15 countries, mainly
in the EU but also in the Balkans and Ukraine.
This year, a new €6m center in Košice and a
new warehouse in Italy will be added to the
five logistics centers. It wants to expand into
Western Europe, but also Turkey and North
Africa. (dennikN.sk)
IT CloudTalk (Martin Malých and Viktor
Vanek), which provides artificial intelligence-
powered solutions for call centers, has raised
€26m from investors. The investment round
was led by KPN Ventures and Lead Ventures,
and funding was also provided by Point Nine
Capital, henQ, Presto Ventures, and Orbit Cap-
ital. The company's solution has already been
deployed in over 100 countries. It has 140
employees and offices in Bratislava and Pra-
gue. So far, it has raised €33.3m from inves-
tors. (forbes.sk)
Paper Environment Minister Tomáš Taraba,
in appeal proceedings, confirmed the positive
environmental impact assessment for the new
120 MW biomass boiler project at the Mondi
SCP Ružomberok paper mill. It will replace the
old boiler, and the mill wants to invest €150m.
Environmental activists are protesting against
the project. (sme.sk)
Retail Retailer Kaufland cleans waste in its
Slovak stores using fly larvae. The technology
of Slovak company ecol Trade (Eduard
Kolesár) removes bio-waste from plastics and
foils and prepares them for recycling. ecol
Trade had nearly €1m sales in 2022. (teraz.sk)
Machinery Trens SK (Ľudmila Danišová), a
machinery firm, filed for bankruptcy and is lay-
ing off all of its 200 employees. (tvnoviny.sk)
In 2018-22, its sales fell from €15m to €10m,
and it was in the red.
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