Investment pours into Slovakia, the ireland of the 00es?

The Slovak economy improved its position by five places in the economic freedom chart and ranked 35th according to the result of an annual survey conducted by the US organization The Heritage Foundation in cooperation with The Wall Street Journal, and its Slovak partner, the F. A. Hayek foundation.

The Japanese company, Sony, has stated that it has serious interest in further investments in Slovakia. It plans to establish a logistic and distribution centre to provide direct deliveries to Slovakia and European markets including Germany, the UK, Ukraine, Italy and Scandinavia.

According to the Minister of Economy, Jan Pociatek, Slovakia should not have any problems with meeting the inflation related Maastricht criterion. “Everything is under control. I do not foresee any unexpected developments regarding Slovak inflation compared to the Euro-zone,” he said speaking to Reuters before a meeting of EU Ministers of Finance. Slovakia’s plan to meet the budget criterion was on the agenda of the meeting.
The Chairman of the Slovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SOPK), Peter Mihok, signed a protocol on accession to the Declaration of Social Commitment to Adopt and Use the Euro in the Slovak Republic.
On January 1 broadband internet penetration was 17.24% in Slovakia.

The cabinet plans to decrease the public finance deficit below 2% of GDP, which is lower than the original target of 2.3% stated Prime Minster, Robert Fico during a cabinet meeting held in Brezno. “It is likely that the deficit in 2008 will be around 2% or below. Our ambition is to decrease the deficit below 2% of GDP,” said Fico. The Prime Minister also stated that the 2007 fiscal deficit is expected to be 2.4 to 2.5% of GDP and will be safely below the 2.9% limit that is required for euro adoption.

The Slovak crown strengthened and the exchange rate fell below 33.00 SKK/EUR.