List of author's articles, page 2
Harnessing the power from below
SUCH IS THE potential of Slovakia’s geothermal resources that the country could rank among the leaders in Europe - like Italy, Iceland, France and Germany - by using it as a source of energy.So far, geothermal water in Slovakia is still used mainly for recreation, tourism purposes, and aquaparks, though these use only a small part of the country’s geothermal resources. There is so far only one project (in Galanta, in southern Slovakia) which uses geothermal energy for heating apartments on a large scale. However, there are plans to heat part of Slovakia’s second city, Košice, using geothermal water. If these are carried out in full, it would represent one of the largest such projects in Europe.
Learning lessons from the crisis
A FAILURE of corporate governance in banks has played a role in the current financial crisis, according to the president of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Richard Aitken-Davies, speaking on a recent visit to Bratislava. Accountants and auditors should learn from the last year, he said, adding that fair value accounting still has an important part to play in modern global financial reporting.
Bookkeeping in crowns, taxation in euros
BUSINESSES are conducting their bookkeeping for 2008 in Slovak crowns, even though they are going to pay their taxes for this year in euros. Auditing firms don’t expect euro adoption to cause major problems in bookkeeping and tax payments, but acknowledge that some confusion may occur. Taxpayers might make mistakes when converting Slovak crowns to the euro or rounding the converted sums.
New law may reduce tax avoidance
THE PRICES at which a parent company and its subsidiaries sell or move – i.e. transfer –assets, services, and funds between each other is increasingly attracting the attention of tax authorities, especially in the case of multinational companies.
Crisis in eurozone could mean pricier mortgages here
IT SEEMS that barely a leaf can fall on world markets, without an army of Slovak market watchers, central bank analysts and media commentators pondering the slightest impact it might have on Slovakia.
Private equity eyes crisis-hit opportunities
A POSSIBLE tightening of banks’ lending policies as a result of the financial crisis could lessen the investment activity of private equity investors; at the same time, the crisis is opening up new investment opportunities, say private equity firms in Slovakia.
Reforms will keep Slovakia appealing
GERMANY is Slovakia’s strategic investor. It is also Slovakia’s strategic business partner as the EU country to which it exports and from which it imports the largest volume of goods.
Mild bubble maybe, but no catastrophe
ALTHOUGH the current mortgage crisis might tighten the conditions under which mortgages are provided in Slovakia, no dramatic changes or steep growth in prices are expected. As mortgage products are still relatively new in Slovakia, in contrast to the situation in the US, they have been granted only after careful inquiry into the borrower’s ability to pay. Moreover, the overall loan exposure of Slovaks is still very low compared to western countries.
The hardest part is yet to come
BANKS have been preparing for Slovakia’s adoption of the euro for more than two years. Now they, as well as the National Bank of Slovakia and the government proxy for euro adoption, say that the conversion process should occur smoothly, unthreatened by major risks.
TV will go digital; tender launched
MANY European countries are aiming to achieve full digital television coverage by 2010. In Slovakia, digital video broadcasting should fully replace the existing analogue television system no later than 2012, according to the Telecommunications Office. To meet this deadline, the office has already initiated a tender to select an operator for the first and second Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial (DVB-T) multiplexes. DVB-T is an internationally accepted standard for digital television.
Landlines aren’t sounding a swan song
HOUSEHOLDS worldwide have been abandoning landlines, causing fixed-line operators to focus on business clients, who continue to use the service.
Mobile data services are all the rage, say operators
MOBILE data services are experiencing a golden age in the European Union, at least according to recent surveys.
The joys of teambuilding
SLOVAK firms are warming up to teambuilding, which uses activities indirectly related to their employees’ work to improve quality and lift morale.
Part-timers are a lonely few
SLOVAKIA is behind the curve in Europe when it comes to part-time employment: only Bulgaria has fewer people using this form of employment.According to Eurostat data, only 2.6 percent of all employees in Slovakia work on part-time contracts, while in the European Union 18.2 percent do so.While the country’s legislation presents no particular obstacles to part-time employment, employers themselves are rather reluctant to use it. Human resources professionals say it is a pity that the option is not used more widely since it can benefit both employers and employees alike.
Slovaks commute, but aren't so keen to relocate
AMERICANS often follow lucrative job offers by relocating their whole family from one place to another, depending on how local labour markets develop and how their career paths change. Slovaks, like many of their European neighbours, have never really adopted this habit and tend to stay in their community, or commute to work daily or weekly instead.
Insurance market reached even split
LAST year, the ratio between life insurance and non-life insurance policies in Slovakia reached 50:50 for the first time. This means the Slovak market now more closely resembles that in western countries, where life insurance policies are more widespread.
Only the strong will survive
DURING the recent years of record growth in the transportation market, many carriers invested in expanding their vehicle fleet in order to satisfy the customers’ demands. However, although the transportation market did grow over the last two years, it was not enough to make the new vehicles profitable to their owners. Moreover, the market has also been affected by rising fuel prices, an increasing cost of labour and cheaper competition from abroad.
Logistics firms look east
SLOVAKIA’S logistics centres are still concentrated mainly in the western part of the country, near Bratislava. However, investors are starting to focus more and more on eastern Slovakia, which neighbours Ukraine.
Narrower and steeper
FREEWAYS and motorways can be built narrower and steeper under new standards that took effect on July 1. The Office for Standards, Metrology and Testing has stated that the revised standards will make highway construction more affordable and ease many of the challenges of building in mountainous regions of the country.
Retail parks are slowly sprouting
SLOVAKIA has little concept of retail parks, which are widely known in the rest of the Europe and the United States. But that might change soon. A retail park is a unit of three or more outlets with a total area of approximately 5,000 square metres or more and parking places out front. It is different from a shopping centre, which is a building or set of buildings that contain a variety of interconnected retail outlets under one roof.
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