Cabinet decided yesterday to delay by at least two weeks a rise in regulated, subsidised consumer prices for natural gas; the rises are seen as essential in the run-up to the sale of a 49% share in gas utility SPP, but have been opposed by leftist parties. The Economy Ministry had previously proposed that prices go up by almost 20% on October 1, thus bringing the retail gas price up to 72% of the purchase price the utility pays its Russian supplier. SPP lost 17.2 billion crowns ($362 million) on domestic gas sales last year, and without the 20% rise expects to lose a further 20 billion this year. Estimates for how much the SPP stake might fetch range from 143 to 334 billion crowns, with analysts suggesting a significant consumer gas price rise could put the final SPP purchase price in the upper range of those estimates.
Compiled by Tom Nicholson from press reports.
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