Archive of articles - November 2000, page 5

Copper giant hits recovery path

The huge factory chimneys at the central Slovak copper wire monolith Kovohuty Krompachy have begun belching fumes again as a new company, Kovohuty a.s., restarted production at the plant after lying fallow for more than a year on October 27. The reopening of operations at Krompachy will breathe life back into a region which officials say had become "a valley of hunger".Kovohuty AS has already rehired 140 of the former 1,000 employees from what was once the biggest company in the region, and intends to bring back a further 310 workers before the end of the year.

Bank Act revisions buttress NBS powers

The Bank Board of the central bank has given its approval to amendments to the Banking Act that it claims will give it far more scope in dealing with errant finance houses.National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) chiefs gave their approval to the amendments October 27 and must now wait for the legislation to be approved first by the government, expected in November or early December, and later by parliament.At the heart of the changes to the Banking Act is a set of far more clearly defined steps the central bank can take in dealing with poorly performing banks, and a timetable for action the NBS must take if banks find themselves heading into problems with liquidity.

Green cards: Frustrating but feasible

Eight months after the latest amendment to the Law on Foreigners, getting a residence permit is more difficult than ever for non-Slovaks wanting to live and work in the country. Although police officials say the changes were intended to ensure everyone knows exactly what documents they need when applying for a Slovak 'green card', those who have been through the process say it is now so complicated that even the police themselves can't meet their deadlines for processing applicants."The law says the police have 60 days to issue a green card after applicants submit their documents, but I know people who submitted in August and haven't yet got their cards," said a local residency consultant who asked not to be identified. "The border and aliens police now require so much paperwork that they can't even handle it themselves."

Tolerant Dutch notch gay-rights first

For the first time in its history, Slovakia has a non-pornographic homosexual magazine, a feat its Slovak creators said would not have been possible were it not for the Dutch community in Slovakia.The Dutch, long considered beacons of liberalism by the international community for their stances on abortion, hard drugs, legalised marijuana and prostitution, have in this country been lauded for their open-mindedness and acceptance."If it weren't for the Dutch embassy's support of the [Atribút gay/lesbian] magazine, we would have had to find some other way to get the money," said Marián Greč, spokesperson for the Bratislava-based HaBiO homosexual rights group and external editor of the magazine. "We needed the financing because we wanted to create a magazine focused only on the social, political and cultural themes of the homosexual community."

Quote of the Week

Police say business licences easy to attain

While a lack of information and red tape has been cited by many foreigners as a massive barrier to the setting up of businesses, Slovak police have said that the process is actually much easier than it appears.The most common route taken by foreign businessmen when looking to start operations in Slovakia is to set up a limited liability company (spoločnosť s ručením obmedzeným- s.r.o.) run by Slovak legal representatives (konateľ). However, the police are keen to stress that there is an equally easy path - taking a business licence (živnosť) as a self-employed person - that is being promoted through new legislation."Our aim is to have legislation [on getting a business licence] equal with legislation in European Union countries, but I can still say that it is much, much easier for a foreigner to get this licence here than for a Slovak to get a similar licence for example in Germany and Austria. We are not discriminatory at all," said Dušan Dudka, head of the tradesman's department at the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of issuing foreigners with business licences.

Headhunting: Your key people and their salaries

One reason people leave jobs is higher salary. This implies that for many managers, salary policy can be a very effective tool in preventing key people from leaving.To be able to form an effective salary policy, comprehensive salary benchmarking with competition on the labour market is essential. We recently carriede out a survey of all existing management positions in electro-technical production companies in western Slovakia. Our client opted for this survey because several managers left for companies for substantially higher salaries.One of the positions was engineering manager. The salary range for this position at modern international production companies in Slovakia ranges from 24,000 crowns ($480) to 78,000 crowns ($1,550) gross monthly. Being faced with such a wide salary range, every engineering manager was interviewed in person to find out who would fill the clients' criteria for engineering manager. We analysed each manager's job description, job profile, responsibilities, size of the company, number of subordinates etc. The outcome was that only four engineering managers qualified with a salary ranging between 35,000 crowns ($700) and 60,000 crowns ($1,200) gross monthly.

This could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship...

MALÁ FATRA: "This is a miracle," gushed the attractive blonde Slovak businesswoman, poised in a remote locale in the Malá Fatra mountain range. In front of her on a meadow between two mountain peaks sat two large green army tanks, flanked by a sizeable herd of camouflaged men."This is big time film making," agreed a Slovak member of the film crew, lounging near several large camera booms which nodded in the wind beside gleaming technical equipment piled at random on the grass."This is a good job," whispered a Slovak driver, keeping warm in a truck parked alongside another dozen vehicles on the autumn mountainside.

Workplace privacy debated as HR enters high-tech age

As the workplace becomes more computerised, with employees serving customers via e-mail and Internet and company bosses managing workers by e-mail rather than meetings, the issue of confidentiality has been moved into the spotlight.Managers who want to ensure that employees are using e-mail for work and not private purposes are demanding the right to periodically check the contents of electronic mail sent by their workers - a move that has met with stiff resistance from many company employees who want to ensure a level of workplace privacy.

Community Corner

Latino-American Dance PartyFirst Tuesday BratislavaAmCham's Business After HoursAustrian Embassy ExhibitionFrench Institute - Austrian Embassy lectureFrench fashion photographyGoethe Institute ExhibitionsBratislava Zen CentreBaptist WorshipBahá'í CommunityDutch Embassy Museum

Top Pick: Slovak Animated Film shows

For three evenings only, Charlie's movie theatre in Bratislava will show the best of Slovak animated film. On the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the establishment of the Creative Animated Film Union in Slovakia, 34 animated films which highlight the development of Slovak animation will be presented.Each evening offers the audience a complete parade through the changes animated film has undergone throughout Slovak cartoon history. Beginning humbly with simple pencil drawings, animated film has gradually developed to where it now encompasses various techniques ranging from play dough and puppet figures to computerised animation.The films' storylines reflect the period in which they were made, covering political, social, family and ecological issues as well as visions of the future through boundless imagination typical of animated film. The film 'The Ogre and the Stonemason' reflects an artist's position in a society where he is terrorised by a stronger man; 'Cinema' is a satire about commercial films; 'The Laid-back Crocodile' is a short, minute-long strip about a little girl sitting on a toilet while a crocodile approaches her through the plumbing.

Coalition frets over plebiscite

The 10-day campaign leading up to a national referendum on early elections began last week with the opposition saying they had no doubts that the required 50% voter turnout required to make the results valid would be achieved. While coalition MP's responded by calling on voters to ignore the plebiscite, one Bratislava analyst said that fear that the November 11 vote would succeed was growing among the government.This nervousness could be seen, the analyst said, in the government's telling decision to postpone discussion of vital reforms until after the vote - a "disruption" of the nation's political life that could not be hidden by government declarations of solidarity."There are concerns among the government that the referendum will be valid," said Grigorij Mesežnikov, head of the Bratislava-based Institute for Public Affairs. "As a result, they are trying to avoid taking any steps which would effect the citizenry's social status until after the referendum.

Harabin takes beef to EU referees

As all Europe now knows, the Slovak government is trying to recall Supreme Court Chief Justice Štefan Harabin. The news has been industriously spread by none other than Harabin himself, who in various complaints to the Council of Europe, the European Court for Human Rights and the United Nations has portrayed his potential recall as a violation of the Slovak Constitution and of his human rights as secured by European treaties. If Harabin wins his case at the European Court, the unwelcome publicity will come at a hefty price for the government - 22 million Slovak crowns ($440,000) in damages.

Rothschild readying for SPP advisory tender

Following the successful sale this summer of a 51% share in fixed line monopoly Slovenské telekomunikácie (Slovak Telecom - ST) to Deutsche Telecom, all eyes are now on the upcoming sale of a 49% stake in gas utility Slovenský plynárenský priemysel (Slovak Gas Industry - SPP). The government is saying the deal should be done by the end of 2001, while potential investors - the likes of Gaz de France, the German Ruhrgas and Wintershall, the Italian SNAM, the Russian Gazprom and the American firm Cinergy - are beginning to signal interest.The first major step towards the sale is the selection of a privatisation advisor, a tender for which was advertised in the Financial Times October 6. Potential advisors have until November 14 to submit their bids; Mariuš Hričovský, advisor to Economy Minister Ľubomír Harach, reported that 10 investment banks had already applied as of October 13.One of the interested parties is investment bank N.M. Rothschild & Sons of London. The bank's director, Charles Mercey, spoke with The Slovak Spectator on October 31 about the approaching tender.

Officials keep brave face over IRB sale

Finance Ministry officials have refused to confirm or deny what may be a harmful lack of interest in one of their key banks - Investičná a rozvojová banka (IRB) - after press reports said that the finance house had only attracted one interested party.Reports in domestic media late in October said that the London-based Regent group were the only bidders for the bank. The government had been hoping to have the tender for the bank, one of three strategic financial institutions to be sold off in the next year, completed by the end of this year. However, following the press reports concerns have grown that the bank may not now be sold under tender.Finance Ministry spokesman Jozef Mach said that he was unable to comment on the reports but added that an announcement on the IRB tender would be made November 8. However, Richard Lysakowski, head of the bank privatisation department at the Finance Ministry, remained optimistic on the sale of the bank.

Correction

Crown Concerns: Referendum jitters hurting crown

During the first week of October, the crown stabilised to 43.900 crowns to the euro. One of the most important stabilisation factors was NBS governor Marián Jusko's declaration of preparadness to intervene on behalf of the crown should the volatility of the exchange rate increase without relation to fundamental economic indicators. After this, the crown slightly strengthened to 43.800 crowns/euro due to purchases of crowns mainly by domestic banks.The exchange rate with the euro remained on this level until the Friday of that week. However, the exchange rate with the dollar began to weaken as the cross euro/dollar exchange rate stabilised and the crown reached 50.300 crowns/dollar. This was preceded by an intervention of the G7 central banks in favour of the common European currency, when the crown/dollar exchange rate dropped to 49.000.The second week of October saw a significant rise in liquid assets, with the crown trading within a range of 43.730-43.950 crowns to the euro, the ceiling price delimited by foreign banks' orders to purchase crowns and the bottom price by clients' orders to purchase a significant amount of euros for the Slovak currency. Analysts hold that the coming November 11 referendum on early parliamentary elections has kept the crown significantly undervalued and the market is expecting a significant strengthening of the crown to 42.000 crowns/euro if polls suggest it will be unsuccessful.

Business Briefs

Poštová banka records 76 million crown Q3 profitGas price cuts SPP three-quarter profit by 34%Growth in industry producer prices slowest in 2000Trade deficit at 1.4 billion crowns for September

Job scheme criticised as stop-gap measure

"My future is uncertain. I will lose this job in December, will be unemployed and spending my time at home again," said Judita Foltínová, one of the 70,000 people who have so far taken part in the government's new 'work for welfare' employment programme.The mainstay of a government employment policy document, the scheme has already fulfilled its main aim, cutting Slovakia's soaring unemployment rate from July's 19.4% to 16.6% in September.The programme, started in August this year and designed for people who have been unemployed for more than one year, has given jobs to 59,368 people and will cost the government two billion crowns ($40 million).