Summary of economic news released on Friday, December 22
Bratislava Airport Served 1.817 Mln. Passengers over Eleven Months
M.R. Stefanik Airport in Bratislava served 1,817,000 passengers during the first eleven months of 2006. Compared to the same period of 2005 this means 43 percent growth. The airport reported 1.486 million passengers on regular flights to thirty destinations. The number of passengers on charter flights was 326,000. The airport registered 29,200 airplane movements over this period. International transport accounted for 94 percent of the total number of passengers, with their number over twelve months from November 2005 to November 2006 reaching 1,924 million.
Slovakia Plans Eurobond Debt Financing Next Year
Slovakia plans to actively use bond issues on the European market to finance the state debt next year. According to State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Frantisek Palko, the objective is to manage state debt with appropriate level of risk and good interest rate parameters. "When these attributes will be fulfilled on foreign markets, then undoubtedly we will turn to these markets. Of course this will depend on concrete development on the euromarket, but it can realistically be assumed that a eurobond issue could be quite a realistic instrument to manage state debt," he said in an interview with SITA News Agency. He added that specific volume of issues would depend on how the budget would develop and on market conditions.
Growth of Slovakia's New Industrial Orders Accelerated in October
New industrial orders rose as much as 40.7 percent y/y in Slovakia in October. After a September hesitation, when the growth of orders slowed down to 33.1 percent y/y, Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, announced that the October growth in Slovakia was the strongest growth in the EU again. Estonia reported the second highest growth in industrial orders at 28.1 percent followed by Denmark with an increase of 26 percent. Poland reported a growth of 23.2 percent. In contrast, Hungary ended with the lowest increase (0.8 percent) followed by Ireland with an annual growth of 4.3 percent.
December 22 is the Final Trading Day on the Stock Exchange This Year
December 22 will be the last trading day this year on the Bratislava Stock Exchange (BCPB). The exchange informed on its web site that the BCPB will resume trading on January 8, 2006. The technological break in the Central Securities Depository (CDCP) is scheduled from December 24, 2006, to January 7, 2006.
Net Price of Motor Fuels Slightly up
The net price of diesel in Slovakia increased from EUR 0.483 to EUR 0.487 per liter as of December 18. Slovakia improved its position in the ranking of European Union (EU) member countries one position. Compared with tenth position last week, the Slovak Republic registered the ninth lowest petrol price as of December 18. However, the net price of the 95-octane diesel increased only moderately w/w, from EUR 0.42 to EUR 0.422 per liter. Consumers in Slovakia paid the thirteenth highest price for one liter of petrol. The country kept its position from the previous week, informed Austria's Economy Ministry. The average net price for petrol in the EU was EUR 0.412, and the average diesel price was EUR 0.473 per liter.
Rail Cargo Slovakia in Black Last Year
Delivery service company Rail Cargo Slovakia (RCS), a.s., Kosice, returned to the black last year. While in 2004 it reported losses of SKK 51 million, a year later the firm earned a net profit of SKK 17.3 million. The company also has improved its sales considerably when it reported a 58.6 percent growth y/y in sales of its own products and services to SKK 751 million. Production consumption was SKK 29.6 million, but a year ago it was SKK 6.1 million.
DanubiaTel Group's 3Q 2006 Sales up 11 Percent
The group DanubiaTel, a.s., reported more than an 11-percent increase in total consolidated sales to over SKK 424 million in the first nine months of 2006. Marketing manager Vojtech Nagy said that the group reached total consolidated revenues of SKK 427.2 million by the end of September. Aggregate consolidated costs of the group were almost SKK 389 million.
MONEY MARKET: Banks Deposited SKK 109.34 Bln. in NBS Repo on Friday
Dominant in trading on Slovakia's interbank market on Friday was a sterilization repo tender of the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS). UniBanka dealer Jozef Hempfinger said that bank housing showed interest in depositing SKK 109.34 billion. The central bank accepted the bids at a single yield of 4.75 percent p.a. Banks deposited SKK 29.108 billion in their minimum reserve accounts in the central bank. They fulfilled the December prescription at 94.62 percent on a cumulative basis.
Personal Changes in Bodies of Regional Power Distributor VSE
Shareholders of regional power distributor Vychodoslovenska Energetika (VSE), a.s., approved changes in the board of directors as well as in the supervisory board of the company at an extraordinary session on Friday, December 22. VSE spokesperson Andrea Danihelova informed SITA that the general assembly withdrew from the post of deputy chairman of VSE board of directors Stanislav Zicho as of December 22 and replaced him with Roman Sipos. He will take over the post on December 23. The general assembly also replaced member of the board of directors Peter Koval with Pavol Fandl as of December 23.
The shareholders also withdrew the chairman of the supervisory board, Imrich Hamarcak, and appointed Stefan Lasky as the new head of this board. They also recalled supervisory board members Jarmila Repassyova, Elemir Jakab, Jan Labas, and Jozef Krulcik. They were replaced by son of the former Slovak President Rudolf Schuster, Peter Schuster, Drahomira Englisova, Gabriela Ostrolucka, and Branislav Sitina. In all cases, the general assembly approved the changes at the proposal of the VSE majority shareholder, i.e., the national privatization agency the National Property Fund (FNM).
FOREX MARKET: Crown Hits New High of 34.530 SKK/EUR
The Slovak currency rewrote history on Friday again. CSOB dealer Robert Hakszer informed that the Slovak crown opened at 34.530/560 SKK/EUR on Friday. At about noon, it started to firm steeply and hit a record of 34.300 SKK/EUR. "Two strong foreign banks showed interest in the Slovak currency," Mr. Hakszer said, adding that the crown was at 34.350/370 SKK/EUR at the end of the trading session. According to Mr. Hakszer, the Slovak crown's records also are affected by lower liquidity on the market, which enables the crown to report bigger moves. The U.S. dollar was traded towards the euro at 1.3180 USD/EUR (middle). The crown was at 26.040/070 SKK/EUR, which is a record. The cross rate of the Slovak and Czech currencies was 1.2470/2490 SKK/CZK. As Mr. Hakszer said, this has been the strongest exchange rate since April 2004.
STOCK MARKET: SAX Index will Close 2006 at 415.61 Points
The Bratislava Stock Exchange (BCPB) closed this year's trading with a moderate improvement of 0.06 percent or 0.24 points. The official share index SAX will enter the new year at 415.61 points. Behind its slight firming on Friday are shares of the crude-oil refiner Slovnaft. Turnover on the Bratislava Stock Exchange (BCPB) increased from SKK 300.653 million on Thursday to SKK 1.675 billion on Friday with SKK 566,000 in share trading.
Slovakia's FOREX Reserves Down USD 10.4 Mln. This Week
Slovakia's foreign exchange (FOREX) reserves declined moderately by USD 10.4 million over the past week to USD 16.4696 billion as of December 20. Behind the drop was a decrease in the reserve assets of the central bank by USD 72.8 million to USD 13.4017 billion. The reserve assets of Slovakia's commercial banks rose USD 62.4 million w/w to USD 3.0679 billion, the NBS informed.