President Urges Finance Minister to Be Bold in Supporting Economic Growth
Bratislava, 2 April (TASR) - President Peter Pellegrini has called on Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicky (Smer-SD) to be bold in supporting the future growth of the Slovak economy.
The president stated this at a briefing following a meeting with Economy Minister Denisa Sakova (Voice-SD) on Thursday.
"In the near future, the government will face the enormous task of presenting to the Slovak public, Slovak entrepreneurs and the business community as a whole a package of pro-growth measures that will have a positive impact on the economy despite negative global trends. The measures should encourage companies to reinvest and upgrade their technologies, and attract other major investors who will contribute to economic growth," he said.
The head of state announced that Sakova presented him with "a comprehensive document summarising all possible measures across various sectors, from the labour market to investments and energy". "These aren't just measures from the Economy Ministry," he stated.
"The finance minister will play a key role, as he'll ultimately have to decide which of the pro-growth measures the governing coalition will be able to agree upon. "I therefore want to call on the finance minister to find the courage, when preparing the 2027 general government budget and also when adopting pro-growth measures, to think long term," emphasised Pellegrini.
According to the president, the finance minister should have the courage to propose measures that may cause a shortfall in state budget revenues next year but will have a vision of sound measures that will kick-start economic growth in the coming years, while revenue shortfalls will be repaid to the state many times over; for example, via taxes.
Sakova announced that measures to support Slovakia's economic growth will be presented to the coalition council next Wednesday, 8 April. According to her, the measures should address issues such as improving the business environment, the area of taxes and levies, and investment support. "The coalition will then discuss the specific measures. We'll also share the summary document with representatives of the Slovak business sector in order to craft a mix of measures that will help the Slovak economy during this difficult period," she added.
"These aren't just initiatives from the Economy Ministry; they also include initiatives and constructive proposals provided by the Slovak Academy of Sciences, the Faculty of National Economy at the University of Economics, and various employer associations," she stressed.
"I firmly believe that the government will succeed in finding a set of measures that can be applied to the Slovak economy in the short and medium term and that they will help the Slovak economy survive this challenging geopolitical period," added the economy minister.
