Economic news released by SITA on Wednesday, January 9
2006 Tax Revenues were SKK 20.6 Bln. above Projection
Tax revenues of Slovakia's state budget totaled SKK 236.272 billion in 2006 and exceeded the annual target by more than SKK 20.6 billion. Compared with 2005, tax revenues rose SKK 13.679 billion or over 6 percent. The collected value added tax (VAT) made up the biggest portion of the 2006 tax revenue at SK 128.46 billion, up SKK 8.463 billion from the plan. The Finance Ministry also informed that excise tax collection was SKK 52.147 billion, which is SKK 233 million more than the projection.
Chemko Group Expects SKK 1.4 Mln. Profit for Last Year
Chemical group Chemko, a.s. should close last year in black digits, with a profit of about SKK 1.4 million. However, the company reported a loss of almost SKK 3 million for the January-September period. Total revenues should reach SKK 1.95 billion in 2006 and added value should be at SKK 225 million. 3Q 2006 revenues totaled SKK 1.644 billion, with sales of own products and services at SKK 1.355 billion.
Kosice Public Transport Firm Expects 2006 Loss at SKK 20.8 Mln.
The public city transport company in Kosice, Dopravny Podnik Mesta Kosice a.s. (DPMK) expects total revenues at SKK 952.4 million on total costs at SKK 973.2 million. The company should close last year with a loss of SKK 20.8 million. Transport revenues from sale of transport services should achieve SKK 357.5 million with revenues from public city transport making up 90 percent. DPMK estimates the number of passengers at 98.9 million.
Market Sees December Inflation Close to November's 4.3 Percent
Market analysts believe that Slovakia's year-on-year headline inflation in December would remain at 4.3 percent, the same as in November. Slovenska Sporitelna analyst Maria Valachyova says that growth in food prices was compensated for by cheaper motor fuels in the last month of 2006. Also fees paid by apartment owners could press on the price level in much the same way as in the previous two months. The Statistics Office will release December inflation figures on Friday.
Cabinet Approves a New Draft Bill on Consumer Protection
The Cabinet at its regular meeting on Wednesday approved a consumer protection draft bill. The draft bill specifies consumer rights, as well as the duties of sellers, related to sale of products and the provision of services. For instance, the bill forbids sellers from discriminating and deceiving consumers or sell products after the expiration date. "The draft bill removes contradictions in providing subsidies to consumer associations and enables control of consumer protection in civil aviation," says the Economy Ministry, which elaborated the draft bill.
Cabinet Reappoints Karol Mrva as NBS Bank Board Member
Karol Mrva will remain a member of the National Bank of Slovakia's (NBS) Bank Board for five more years. The cabinet reappointed him for this post based on the NBS Governor Ivan Sramko's proposal on Wednesday. Mr. Mrva's first six-year term ended at the end of last year. In line with the law, the NBS Bank Board should have eleven members, particularly governor, two vice-governors and eight regular members. However, after Mrva assumes his post the board will still have vacant three posts, including the vice-governor for monetary policy. The central bank has been working without the vice-governor for monetary policy since March 27, 2006, when term of Elena Kohutikova expired. The cabinet promised to fill this post this January. Finance Minister Jan Pociatek would welcome if a central bank insider would become the new vice-governor and confirmed that nominations for this post from the NBS are already being discussed by the cabinet.
Investing in Real Estate Fund to be Made More Accessible
Real estate funds should become more accessible also for smaller investors this year. From May, the existing requirement of minimum investment of EUR 3,000 (over SKK 100,000) into a real estate fund should be canceled. "All limits for investors are canceled in order to enable investing assets in special real estate mutual funds," explains the Finance Ministry in the draft amendment, approved by the cabinet at its regular meeting on Wednesday. The Slovak legislation enables launching real estate funds in the country since last May.
ZSR Will Report a Pretax Profit of SKK 9.8 Bln. for Last Year
State-run railway network operator Zeleznice Slovenskej Republiky (ZSR) plans to close last year with a pretax profit of SKK 9.8 billion. ZSR director general Dalibor Zeleny told a press conference on Tuesday that a favorable economic result was influenced by a consolidation function of the railways. "Thanks to a good cooperation with our partners and assistance from the government, and the Transport and Finance Ministries, we managed to do a lot in this field," said Mr. Zeleny. He mentioned, for example, takeover of old debts of the then unitary railway company by the state so that ZSR showed SKK 986 million higher than planned profit for last year. The government has taken over about SKK 21 billion of debts of ZSR, which will be posted in the company's revenues in 2006.
Cabinet Appoints New Director General of Social Insurance Company
Ivan Bernatek will become the head of the social insurance provider Socialna Poistovna as of January 15. The cabinet made the decision at its regular meeting on Wednesday. Mr. Bernatek will replace the current five-member board of directors and the Cabinet installed him into the post for a six-year term. The monthly salary of the director general of the social security provider will be a six-times the average monthly wage in Slovakia.
Opposition Likely to Support Frantisek Miklosko as New UPN Director
Parliamentary deputies for the opposition Christian-Democratic Movement (KDH) and the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) are ready to support the candidacy of KDH deputy Frantisek Miklosko to the post of Nation's Memory Institute (UPN) . Heads of deputy caucuses of the two opposition parties confirmed their preparedness to vote for Mr. Miklosko. The third opposition party, the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU-DS) also said they would not have a problem with support for Mr. Miklosko. Its deputy club will discuss the nomination in the afternoon, said club's head Stanislav Janis. Mr. Janis, however, thinks that the ruling coalition is not interested in having the new UPN head elected as it does not want to preserve the institute. SMER-SD played a game with Mr. Miklosko -- in two days they changed the opinion and the acceptable candidate became unacceptable, said the SDKU official.
Slovanet Expects 2006 Revenues of Around 540 mil. Sk
The management of alternative telecommunications operator Slovanet, a.s. estimates revenues of the company to reach around SKK 540 million for 2006, which would be up over 16 percent y/y. "The segment of large corporate clients and providing of voice services prevail in the company's sales," said Slovanet PR manager Ivica Hricova. The company reported revenues from goods and services sold at SKK 464 million in 2005 and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to SKK 42 million for that year.
Cabinet Will Centralize Management of State Property
The Slovak cabinet okayed at its session on Wednesday the establishment of a specialized organization that would handle state-owned real estate centrally. The new organization would provide legal services in case of sale or rent of immovable assets, run a central register of the state's immovable assets and rent real estate for state organizations. Among its tasks will be also so-called temporary management of state's property, which is currently in hands of regional offices of the state administration.
MONEY MARKET: Liquidity Surplus Deepens Further Midweek
Liquidity surplus on the money market widened even after the settlement of payments from repo tenders on Wednesday. Slovenska Sporitelna dealer Pavel Janosik said that SKK 80 billion from the Tuesday two-week repo tender of the central bank left the market on the influx of the maturing SKK 109.34 billion. The central bank decided to reject a part of bank bids in order to support its previous direct interventions on the FOREX market against the too steep firming of the local currency. Additional SKK 12.456 billion left the market from Monday's auction of government bonds.
Siderit Nizna Slana to Get State Aid for Modernization
Ailing iron ore mining and processing company Siderit, s.r.o. Nizna Slana will get state aid. The Slovak Cabinet at its session on Wednesday accepted a proposal of the Economy Ministry. Thus, the cabinet will provide the company regional investment assistance up to 50 percent of total investment costs of modernization. The ministry estimates the total costs for modernization of the plant at SKK 367.1 million and thus the aid package may be up to SKK 183 million.
FOREX MARKET: Slovak Crown Weakened Midweek Along with the Region
On Wednesday, the Slovak crown weakened by more than ten hallers under influence of losses on neighboring markets. The crown opened at 34.480/500 SKK/EUR and Tatra Banka dealer Milan Cavojec informed that the exchange rate climbed to the daily high of 34.630/660 SKK/EUR. Later the crown firmed moderately to be at 34.600/630 SKK/EUR before the close of the session.
STOCK MARKET: SAX Index Drops Slightly Midweek
The Slovak share index SAX dropped slightly on Wednesday. Its value fell by 0.14 percent or 0.56 points to 414.4 points. Turnover on the Bratislava Stock Exchange (BCPB) slumped from SKK 32.43 billion on Tuesday to SKK 583.3 million on Wednesday with a mere SKK 687,500 in share trading. During the trading on Wednesday, twenty shares of pharmaceutical maker Biotika changed hands on an increase of 3.2 percent to SKK 360 in the average as well as the closing price. Also fifty shares of power engineering company SES Tlmace changed owner, while their average and closing price remained unchanged at SKK 455. Two shares of crude oil refinery Slovnaft were traded.