Measures from social package are not specified yet

The package should bring about the 13th and 14th salary, an increase in bonuses for night and weekend work and more

(Source: Sme)

One of results of the EU fund scandal at the Education Ministry and the following ruling coalition crisis is the fourth social package from Robert Fico’s cabinet. In order to achieve peace in the coalition, each ruling party has some of its measures into the package. These include the 13th and 14th salary, an increase in the minimum wage, exempting working pensioners from the payment of income taxes, an increase in bonuses for night and weekend work and more. The estimated impacts of these measures on public finances are already included in the draft budget for 2018 even though not all these measures are in their final form.

SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement
SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement

SkryťTurn off ads

“When we are speaking about next year’s deficit of 0.83 percent of GDP, then this includes the social package,” said Prime Minister Robert Fico when introducing the package in late September. He added that its exact price tag in not known yet since amounts of individual contributions need to be set.

Read also: Budgetary deficit decreasing, but too slowly Read more 

Employers are critical, lacking impact studies. They point out that many changes will be paid not by the state but by companies.

Finance Minister Peter Kažimír has hinted that the social package will cost almost €500 million, when roughly one half of this sum will account for measures increasing budgetary expenditures and the second half will reduce revenues, according to the Trend weekly.

The planned measures most important for entrepreneurs is the increase of the minimum wage, the increase in bonuses for night and weekend work as well as the 13th and 14th salaries. While the first change is already known since the government approved the hiking of the minimum wage by €45 or 10.34 percent to €480 from January 2018, the remaining two measures do not have their final shape yet.

The rest of this article is premium content at Spectator.sk
Subscribe now for full access

I already have subscription - Sign in

Subscription provides you with:
  • Immediate access to all locked articles (premium content) on Spectator.sk
  • Special weekly news summary + an audio recording with a weekly news summary to listen to at your convenience (received on a weekly basis directly to your e-mail)
  • PDF version of the latest issue of our newspaper, The Slovak Spectator, emailed directly to you
  • Access to all premium content on Sme.sk and Korzar.sk

Top stories

Janka, a blogger, during the inauguration of the first flight to Athens with Aegean Airlines at the airport in Bratislava on September 14, 2023.

A Czech rail operator connects Prague and Ukraine, Dominika Cibulková endorses Pellegrini, and Bratislava events.


Píšem or pišám?

"Do ľava," (to the left) I yelled, "Nie, do prava" (no, to the right), I gasped. "Dolšie," I screamed. "Nie, nie, horšie..." My Slovak girlfriend collapsed in laughter. Was it something I said?


Matthew J. Reynolds
Czech biochemist Jan Konvalinka.

Jan Konvalinka was expecting a pandemic before Covid-19 came along.


SkryťClose ad