THE RULING coalition has decided not to privatize any more state assets after March 31 in what it claims is a gesture of good will to the public and the political opposition ahead of scheduled September elections.
The agreement may endanger the completion of the privatization sales of energy distributors Stredoslovenská energetika and Východoslovenská energetika, the Pravda daily wrote. However, apart from these two deals, other ongoing privatizations should not be affected.
The 100 percent sale of railway cargo transporter ZSSK Cargo should be completed by February this year, for example, while the state privatization agency, the National Property Fund (FNM), plans to select investors for heating companies in Bratislava, Žilina, Trnava, Zvolen, Martin, and Košice by the end of March.
The coalition said it had arrived at the decision because it does not want to risk alienating voters over sensitive privatization deals.
Before previous national elections in 2002 and 1998, the governments in power were criticized for seeming to rush through dubious privatization sales before leaving office.
Compiled by Martina Jurinová from press reports
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