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Crown rewrites history
The Slovak crown yesterday topped its previous record, breaking through the barrier of 32,7 crowns to the euro to finish at 32,680 SKK/EUR. The record fell almost one year to the day after it reached its previous strongest level – 32,710 SKK/EUR – last March. The motivation for the charge over the psychological border was Friday’s statement by National Bank of Slovakia Vice-governor Martin Barto to the Reuters agency. „From my point of view, deliberations on the conversion rate should reflect a truly balanced exchange rate, which means a rate based on economic fundaments.” In his opinion it would be fair for Slovakia if the exchange rate also reflected the future development of the economy. This statement is perceived by the market as a signal that Slovakia will accept the euro at a higher rate than the present central parity of 35,4424 SKK/EUR. (February 26)

State seeks control in managing energy monopolies
Premier Robert Fico is again trying to gain managing control in privatized energy firms. In his opinion, the Constitutional Court should provide the answer to the question of whether minority owners’ management of gas companies and companies distributing electricity is constitutional. As the Premier added, he would like to draft a law which would forbid this form of management. This would mean that foreign shareholders in Slovenský plynárenský priemysel (Slovak Gas Industry) or in Transpetrol, as well as the three companies distributing electricity, would lose the ability to manage their Slovak acquisitions. „We really must face the question of whether this is in line with the Constitution of the Slovak Republic, if the state should tolerate this. But this will require legal acts,“ the Premier declared after yesterday’s government meeting. In addition to this, the cabinet again opened the issue of the privatization of SPP. The government is particularly upset that the former executive identified the sale of a share package to foreign concerns as a condition for our accession to the European Union, as well as the differentiated price of the shares resulting from analyses before and after the transaction. Accordingly, the sale could yet end up being ruled invalid. Economy Minister Ľubomír Jahnátek has until the end of March to research the possibility of challenging the privatization in the courts. (February 20)

Germans: Three more years of prosperity
In the coming years Slovakia will continue to offer German investors space for further expansion, which should create new working positions on the market. However, according to Michael Kern, the chairman of the German-Slovak Chamber of Commerce, German firms are even today paying the price for our lack of qualified workers. „According to our research, worker productivity is increasing, but in spite of this one-half of companies cannot find a sufficient workforce,“ claimed Kern. We are lacking people with university education in natural sciences, technical areas and IT. 57 percent of German companies here cannot manage to find a sufficient workforce. According to Kern, potential investors are agreed that this lack of qualified workers calls for the hiring of foreigners. In fact, it was the flow of Slovaks abroad which has cut the legs from under Slovakia’s expansion plans. Despite the expected expansion on our markets, a majority of German businessmen predict that Slovakia’s attractiveness as the primary business locality in Central Europe will worsen over the coming three to five years. (February 20)