The yield from the sale of the 49-percent state stake in the Slovak Telekom should ideally be used to reduce the state debt, Finance Minister Peter Kažimír said after the government session October 16.
Stakeholders of the Slovak Telekom - the state and Deutsche Telekom AG – this summer agreed on drawing up a memorandum on a joint course of action that should set up the formal framework for co-operation of future shareholders, the TASR newswire wrote.
The Economy Ministry on October 16 informed the government that working groups are currently preparing comments on the memo, which should stipulate conditions for the sale. Previously, there had been an assumption that this money would go toward the government’s intention to buy out the two private health-insurers, Dôvera and Union, en route to installing a single-payer state health system.
The ruling Smer party has lost the image of a party that stands firm against privatisation, the opposition Most-Híd party’s Vice Chairman Ivan Švejna said in reaction to Kažimír, as quoted by the SITA newswire.
(Source: TASR, SITA)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
