BRATISLAVA, June 6, (WEBNOVINY) — Slovakia’s Economy Ministry wants to cut expenditures of businesses in Slovakia by over EUR 100 million annually. The ministry wants to achieve the goal by improving the business environment. Economy Minister Juraj Miskov (SaS) told Monday’s news conference that the ministry has elaborated a hundred measures to improve the business environment. Following implementation of these measures, the ministry promises a significant reduction of the administrative burden for entrepreneurs in Slovakia. “We have prepared a project titled „Singapore“. The aim of the project is to create in Slovakia one of the best business environments in the world and the best among the central and eastern European countries,” Miskov announced, adding that Slovakia is to become a Singapore of central and eastern Europe.
Thanks to the new measures, it should be possible to incorporate a company in Slovakia in two days, as well as do it at the cost of just one euro. The ministry wants to shorten the period of issuing a trader’s license, initiate the use of electronic extracts from public registrars for legal purposes, and reduce the duration of construction approval proceedings. “The concept of a strong social state has failed. The priority of both the government and the Economy Ministry under my management is to improve the business environment in Slovakia and become a fully competitive, attractive and strong business partners for investors. A quality business environment is the key to formation of new jobs, and improving the standard of living in Slovakia,” Miskov emphasized.
The measures contained in the Singapore project have been divided to short-term , which should be implemented already this year and medium-run, that should be enforced by mid-2013 at the latest. “Improving the business environment is my political priority, too”, stated Prime Minister Iveta Radicova. The ministry submitted the draft measures for interdepartmental review. Miskov claims that 99 percent of the measures have already been debated briefly with individual ministries.
According to the Economy Ministry’s Institute of Economic Analyses, the overall administrative burden in Slovakia reaches EUR 1.98 billion in quantitative terms, which represents 3 percent of gross domestic product. The institute identified 180 information duties imposed by the state, and which translate into costs of EUR 1.25 billion annually.
SITA