The proposal of the package, with which the government wants to start the growth of the Slovak economy, is out. You can read his 38 points HERE.
The mentioned measures will not harm the economy. But there is no need to expect any dramatic upsurge in business and investment activity.
Martin Šuster, a member of the Council for Budget Responsibility (RRZ), evaluated the list: “Imagine that you were invited to a wonderful feast for months and you imagined that maybe there would be roast geese, maybe there would be steaks from Argentina, (…) and then you come and get a sponge cake and a cup of tea.”
Just for comparison, when Richard Sulík was Minister of the Economy, he was able to present such minor technical improvements to the business environment for “three kilos”. Already within the first “kilečka” after the change of government in 2020, Sulík implemented 115 measures. And then he came with two more rounds of similar packages – “kileček”.
And today? Just a few weeks ago, the current coalition was talking about a list of 54 measures. Now there are 38 of them. But even the approval of this district cosmetic package is being delayed. First it was supposed to arrive in March, then it was supposed to be approved by the end of May or during June. However, for now it looks more like September.
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The government appears to be not only technically not the most competent (a case of bungled consolidation of public finances, which has its share in slowing down the economy), but it is also politically slow and inefficient.
Let’s add that in September there will be a year left until the next election. If this is supposed to be the result of the government’s three-year work on the quality of the business environment, then it is misery.
By the way, steaks from Argentina
Just for the sake of interest, let’s contrast the reform efforts of the current Slovak government with the example of Argentine President Javier Milea. A chainsaw-wielding libertarian in only his first year in office according to some estimates on average, he canceled up to two regulations per day.
At this point, of course, Robert Fico and Denisa Sakova could object: “But we are social democrats!”
But here Richard Ďurana, director of the Institute of Economic and Social Studies (INESS), pointed out a remarkable thing on his Facebook: in Denmark, the new center-left government has just announced that it wants to reduce the corporate income tax from 22 to 19 percent within three years in order to strengthen the competitiveness of its country.
A robust market economy is not necessarily the enemy of a strong social system, but its prerequisite.
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In our country, we can’t even abolish the extremely harmful transaction tax. This is precisely what the employers have persistently demanded from the government.
Prime Minister Robert Fico is now complaining that employers consider the list of measures to be insufficient, although it is many of the demands they have addressed to the government. But relieving the burden on the Slovak economy does not lie in lowering the age for starting a business from 18 to 16 (a measure that was put on the government’s list), but in abolishing the transaction tax.
Although Postoj is under the permanent suspicion that we cannot find anything praiseworthy in Progressive Slovakia, we have to agree with PS economist Štefan Kišš in this case. He evaluated the government’s package, saying: “A third of the measures say that they will investigate or analyze something.”
This really strikes anyone reading that list right away. In other words, even a part of those 38 measures are some kind of vague intentions, of which there may be nothing before the elections.
The Prime Minister defends that the employers demanded such immoralities as the reduction of the lunch break from 30 to 15 minutes, but they, the brave social democrats in the government, prevented it. If this is true, it is also an idea that will rather annoy trade unions and employees than increase the competitiveness of the Slovak economy.
Yes, we should rather discuss how to encourage the economic growth and competitiveness of Slovakia not by eroding employment standards, but by climbing the ladder of added value. Or as it is popularly said: gradually transform the “assembly room” into a “brain room”. Well, even here after three years, you can’t see any deliberate move by the government on the goal.
Robert Fico says that the government does not want to be a slapstick for employers. It is quite likely that even the employers do not enjoy being the slapstick of the government.
Source: Postoj
