Archive of articles - May 2000, page 3

IMF: Government gets pat on back

Government officials were last week patting themselves on the back after receiving their strongest praise yet from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for their commitment to economic reforms and measures taken to stabilise the macroeconomic situation in the country.Ministers were keen to stress the IMF's support for their economic management and the macroeconomic improvements that the IMF said were sure to boost investment levels.However, the international organisation was quick to warn that the government must tighten the reins on public finances, push forward with banking sector reform, address the state welfare system to close down a burgeoning grey economy and crack down on lax corporate tax discipline which the IMF believes is costing Slovakia dearly.

Cabinet passes new capital market law

Traders and investors were left bouyant after the government on May 17 approved the creation of an independent body to regulate the Bratislava bourse - a move seen as crucial to Slovak membership in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and later the European Union.However, the bill on the creation of the body must now go before parliament, and while no problems are expected in passing the legislation, the date set for the body's start, July 1, can only be met if the bill is rushed through the legislature in accelerated proceedings."If we want to meet that date [July 1] then we will have to pass everything in accelerated proceedings. It will all depend on the decision of the Speaker of Parliament [Jozef Migaš] if we can get these accelerated proceedings," said Michal Horváth, director of the financial markets section at the Finance Ministry.

OECD entry slipping away

Officials from the organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on May 17 played down media reports that the US was blocking Slovakia's entry into the organisation and trying to defuse a potential rift between its members over the post-Communist country.The Financial Times newspaper reported on May 16 that at a committee meeting discussing a report from earlier this year on Slovakia's entry, US representatives voiced what the paper said was 'serious concern' about economic problems, particularly the country's weak banks and its vulnerability to liberalised capital flows.The paper went on to say that the US representatives had since sent two letters to other OECD members, and asked the grouping to lay down new conditions for the government to fulfill so as to ensure it carries out vital reforms.

Review: Dancing nuns with no script

Behind monastery walls lies a world of intrigue - all that oestrogen, all those rules, all that maternal love. And for writers of film and theatre, all that meaty symbolism.In The Sound of Music, the main character was a nun probably as a means of affirming her absolute righteousness, a balance to all that Nazi-evil. In The Blues Brothers, nuns were prudish diversions on a spree of dissolution; how much fun is tomfoolery without someone wagging a disapproving finger? And in the early 90's film Bad Lieutenant, a raped nun forgives the perpetrator in a move contrasting the reckless moral judgements of the film's title character.

Business Briefs

Unicredito acquires majority in PolnobankaISPAT looks to grab stake in steelmaker VSŽNBS predicts inflation between 6 and 8%Central bank satisfied with interest ratesIndustrial output up 8.5% year-on-year in MarchConstruction output continuing on downward trendTender for Štúrovo bridge to be announced in May

Asian Cuisine

JasminHua Li GongMekongTsing TaoU DežmáraTokyoSushi Bar Tokyo

No 'buts' - let's have some 'ands'

If any of you have ever taken a course in communications you will remember that in order to get 'good' communications, the sender has to complete the circuit with the receiver by getting some acknowledgement back. In other words, there must be a response.The simplest of elements, feedback, seems to elude us in both management and performance improvement scenarios. It reminds me somewhat of the search for Intelligent Life in Outer Space. Supposedly earth-based scientists keep sending out signals, hoping for some feedback. Hoping for some acknewledgement that another intelligent life form exists and has heard our hellos and responds. If we got feedback, we would know the true facts.And that is exactly the point, believe it or not. Lots of people would like to know what the situation is: are they doing a good job? Where exactly could they improve? Are we getting this particular part right? Does it fit into the big picture? Our research results with most Slovak clients have shown that continual feedback and appraisal is a key organisational challenge in Slovakia.

Mikloš hoping to woo back Omnium

The government is working hard to fend off the threat of an investment fiasco with French firm Plastic Omnium after the auto parts producer threatened to take what would be the fourth biggest investment in the history of Slovakia to Hungary.On April 20 Plastic Omnium, at a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Ivan Mikloš, was promised several incentives if it decided to build a plant in Slovakia, including 100% tax holidays for the first five years of its investment and a 50% tax holiday for the next five years. It was also to have been exempt from paying customs for import of technologies and from the tax due when a company turns agricultural land into industrial area. The government had also promised subsidies for Plastic Omnium's future employees.

Eichler and Goodish: As good as it gets for VSŽ

Lobbying for US Steel's entry into VSŽ, company CEO Gabriel Eichler's schedule was tighter than the daily norm when The Slovak Spectator sat down with him May 11.Just weeks before a crucial general assembly meeting at which VSŽ management needs to gain 50% support from the company's shareholders in order to give a recent deal with US Steel the go-ahead, Eichler and John Goodish, president of USX Engineers and Consultants, a wholly-owned technical subsidiary of US Steel, spoke about support for the deal and the future of the steel giant under new ownership.The Slovak Spectator (TSS): What hopes do you have for this new company [NewCo - a company to be wholly-owned by US Steel and consisting of VSŽ's current core activity companies - Ed. note] that will be owned by US Steel?

Review: Peter Cardarelli's Bratislava Blue

Peter Cardarelli is something of a jazz throwback. He calls people brother, man and cat, and has played all over the world, including many hardworking years on the jazz/blues circuit in the United States where he performed with artists such as B.B. King, Cool and the Gang and Jay Leno. He has even done the going sober and teaching at university gig.These days sax player Cardarelli, who hails from Boston and reluctantly dates himself in his early forties, calls Bratislava his home as much as anywhere else. Last Saturday night in the Old Town in Bratislava, Cardarelli celebrated the release of his new CD, Bratislava Blue, a collection of nine straight-forward mostly swing/blues numbers recorded in Slovakia.

Rebel without a crown

When characterising Slovak theatre director Blaho Uhlár, few theatre critics confine themselves to simple adjectives or labels. Sometimes the epithets come in odd pairs - vulgar genius, absurd revolutionary, penniless star - while at other times they reinforce each other - drunken iconoclast, touchy egotist. But the descriptions are never simple, and rarely the same.Such ambiguity seems approporiate for the man behind Slovakia's most controversial theatre. Founded in 1991 by Uhlár and designer Miloš Karásek, Bratislava's Stoka Theatre has for ten years been a middle finger in the face of traditional stage production, and sometimes a thorn in the side of the government (especially during the former regime of Vladimír Mečiar). Like Blaho himself, Stoka has been equally praised and put down, deified and dismissed, revered and reviled.

Top Pick: Énglish language play premieres at Stoka Theatre

Miki and me: PM playing shady game

For all his talk about government stability, it looks very much as if Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda has started his preparations for early elections.First, he's launched a campaign to wipe out his opponents within his divided SDK party. Declaring the need to form a strong centre-right bloc that could contest the 2002 elections as a single unit (rather than the SDK's unravelling quilt of five mother parties, or 'platforms'), the PM has begun using people who support him in each platform to bust up the SDK mother parties and eliminate resistance to the new SDKÚ, Dzurinda's chosen election vehicle. By this strategy (eliminating competing parties) he hopes to build voter support for the SDKÚ, as well as guarantee himself a future place in politics if the SDK comes apart at the seams.

Community Calendar

"1001 Europe" lecture seriesItalian Embassy - Film FestivalInternational Women's Club Bratislava

Cabinet should urge Slovaks to 'take responsibility'

There has been a boom in the insurance industry since 1989 when many foreign insurance companies came to Slovakia to expand already global businesses. However, the variety of insurance products offered by both foreign and domestic insurance companies on the Slovak market is still not as wide as that offered abroad.Over the last 10 years, Slovaks have begun to develop new attitudes towards insurance and have become aware of taking responsibilty for insuring themselves; something that helps insurance companies grow.The Slovak Spectator spoke to Radúz Motáň of auditing firm Ernst & Young May 5 about the current situation, competition on and future of the domestic insurance market.

SDK rejects PM's 'fusion'

Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda threw his Slovak Democratic Coalition (SDK) party members into bitter conflict last week by announcing his intention to launch a fusion of "centre-right" platforms within the party to form a single strong unit. Dzurinda claimed that his idea aimed to give voters a "reform-oriented" party with a "real chance of victory in [2002] elections," but his critics within the SDK decried the plan as an attempt by the PM to bolster his own weak position.Internal disunity has plagued the SDK since the party came second in 1998 elections (26.3%) and formed a coalition government with three other parties. The SDK, itself a coalition of five still-existing parties now known as 'platforms', could never agree on a power-sharing mechanism that would respect the independence of each platform but ensure that joint decisions were reached quickly.

Cabinet: Privatisation on track

The ruling coalition defied critics and allayed investor fears on May 9 when government deputies who had seemed divided on the speed of privatisation rallied to push through important legislation in parliament.Weeks of apparent fudging over a new telecoms law, which until passed would hold off the already delayed privatisation of state fixed-line monopoly Slovenské telekommunikácie (ST), were left behind when the bill passed its first of three readings in accelerated proceedings May 9.The move was one of the strongest recent signs that the coalition cabinet is united in forging ahead with its privatisation plans, something investors had been growing increasingly concerned about after the leader of the coalition Democratic Left Party (SDĽ), Parliamentary Speaker Jozef Migaš, in April came out in support of a proposal to take privatisation powers away from the government and turn them over to parliament. Critics of the plan said it would only further delay important sales of major state assets, such as utilities and banks.

Quote of the week

MP's shrug off report on illegal payments

Slovak state officials every day make an average of 28 illegal decisions in managing public money, according to a recent report by an official state watchdog. But while civil servants from cabinet ministers and senior court judges to petty bureaucrats committed a total of 10,471 legal infractions involving public money in 1999, no one seems to care.The misdemeanours are tabulated in a report tabled at the May parliamentary session by the Supreme Audit Office (Najvyšsí kontrolný úrad - NKÚ - a parliament-appointed watchdog controlling the use of state money).Most illegal acts documented consist of state officials breaking the principle of reasonable, transparent and efficient use of state money. No state institution emerged from the inspection with a clean record.