THE BUSINESS environment in Slovakia deteriorated significantly in the first quarter of 2009 according to the Business Environment Index, calculated quarterly by the Slovak Business Alliance (PAS). The index fell by 3.33 percent on a quarterly basis to 109.5 points, the SITA newswire reported.
This was the eleventh consecutive drop in the index, showing the deepest quarterly decline ever. The quality of Slovakia’s business environment sank below the levels of 2004, when the index stood at 110.6 points in that year’s first quarter.
The Business Environment Index started gradually to fall beginning in the second quarter of 2006.
Among the categories making up the index, the PAS said the deepest drop was in the area of efficiency of spending state money and access to state aid, which fell by 9.75 points to 52.6 points.
Despite the negative impact of the economic crisis on the general government deficit, the cabinet has not yet re-evaluated state budget expenditures nor introduced radical spending cuts in all departments, according to PAS.
Furthermore, PAS said that extravagant government behaviour was reflected in a significant wage increases in public administration at a time when real wages in private companies with more than twenty employees are shrinking.
