REFORMS designed to simplify the business environment in Slovakia may significantly decrease the unemployment rate in two years' time, World Bank manager Simeon Djankov told a conference held September 21.
The conference discussed the findings of a study entitled "Doing Business in 2006: Creating Jobs". Djankov is a co-author of the study, the SITA news agency reported.
Djankov says that the positive impact of the reforms on employment in Slovakia is already visible. However, several years need to pass before the business environment feels the full impact of the reforms, he said.
According to Djankov, despite Slovakia being the fourth most reformist country of those included in the World Bank study, its business environment still needs some improvement.
Changes in payroll taxation could improve the business environment significantly, he suggested. Slovakia pays some of the highest payroll taxes in the world. These excessive expenses are mostly due to social insurance premiums paid by employers.
Another weakness of Slovakia's business environment is law enforcement.
