A regular survey on businesses carried out by the Slovak Business Alliance (PAS) claims that the business environment in Slovakia suffered a slight decline in 4Q 2010, reports SITA news agency.
The decline was brought about chiefly by worse price stability, which slumped 5.7% to end at 85.7 points. The index on the state of the business environment IPP was down 0.4 of a point to 91.5 points on a quarterly basis.
The adverse change was due to a number of factors, including strong growth in world oil prices, the hike in VAT from 19% to 20%. The businesses in the survey also felt payroll taxes to be a problem, as the reference base was increased but the rates were kept the same, meaning higher expenditures for companies.
The perception of law and the judiciary continued to register increasingly negative figures, with businesses feeling that no ground has been made in this area.
Aspects positively evaluated by businesses include the government’s economic policy and the level of information accessibility, related mostly to the governments publication of all contracts and tenders on the internet. The businesses in the study also felt that funds are now gradually becoming more accessible again.
The survey was made on businesses employing a total of around 64,000 people with an annual turnover of around EUR 16.9 billion.