Money Buzz! Europa

Category: Bratislava

  • Slovenská pošta to digitalize its services with a €32 million loan from EIB

    Slovenská pošta to digitalize its services with a €32 million loan from EIB

    The European Investment Bank (EIB) signed a €32 million loan with Slovenská pošta, the Slovak public postal operator.

    Through this investment, EIB will contribute to the digitalisation and innovation of Slovenská pošta’s services and operations with the financing of new IT systems as well as specialised postal equipment, such as parcel sorting lines and digitally integrated parcel boxes.

    The project is part of Slovenská pošta’s investment programme 2018-2021 to digitalise and transform its operations and portfolio of services.

    Slovenská pošta has been active on the Slovak postal market for 25 years. In addition to ensuring the provision of universal postal services, Slovenská pošta is a leading provider of modern distribution and payment services on the domestic market.

  • Banks profits in Slovakia fell by almost half at the end of August

    Banks profits in Slovakia fell by almost half at the end of August

    The eight-month profit of Slovak banks amounted to EUR 254,3 million, according to National Bank of Slovakia data and cited by Ekonomika.

    Net interest income, which accounts for the largest part of the banking sector’s revenues, fell by 4.6% to €1.107bn.

    Profitability also fell for banks in Slovakia at the end of August. However, the pace of year-on-year decline slowed compared to July, from 51.4% to 43.1%. Provisioning and provisions increased significantly, from EUR 73,2 million to EUR 259,9 million.

    Banks expect the increased provisioning to continue into the next period.

  • First Slovak skyscraper’s foundations being concreted

    First Slovak skyscraper’s foundations being concreted

    Contractors began concreting the foundation slab for Eurovea Tower, the first skyscraper in Slovakia. Before concreting began, construction workers attached a 1.880-ton steel concrete reinforcement.

    The thickest reinforcement bars are four centimetres in diameter, 12 meters long, and weigh 120 kilograms. The foundation slab will comprise a three-meter thick, 7.050 cubic meters (cbm) volume of concrete.

    Three concrete mixers and two back-ups are on site, which revolve over 630 times throughout the concreting process.

    Concrete reaches the excavation site via three mobile pumps, which are supplemented by one stand-by pump during technical breaks with one back-up also prepared.

    Forty workers per shift work on the concreting of the skyscraper’s base plate.

    Preparatory work began in March 2019 on the construction site between Eurovea’s first stage and Apollo Bridge, with a 420,000-cubic meter pit 300 metres long, 100 metres wide, and 14 metres deep excavated.

    Construction of the Eurovea 2 project began after the official building permit was issued in December 2019.

    In May, the first 91-meter crane was erected on site to build the shopping centre. A total of 14 cranes will be working on the project, with the tallest ever built in Slovakia.

    How Eurovea extension will look

    Eurovea Tower will be the first skyscraper in Slovakia, with 45 floors, 168 meters high and 389 residences.

    Eurovea 2 will include an extension of the shopping centre – 25.000 sq m of retail space (85.000 sq m with current centre).

    Other buildings on site are Eurovea Riverside – 7 floors, 96 residences, Pribinova X – 18.000 sq m of leasable office space and Pribinova Y – 22.000 sq m of leasable office space.

    The project will include more underground garages – 1.400 parking spaces and the lengthening of the Danube promenade – 25.000 sqm waterfront park, new activity park and playgrounds.

    Completion is expected in 2022-2023.

  • New Monoštor bridge connecting Slovakia and Hungary, opened for traffic

    New Monoštor bridge connecting Slovakia and Hungary, opened for traffic

    The new Monoštor bridge connecting Komárom (Hungary) and Komárno (Slovakia) was officially opened for traffic.

    The new road connection, which improves both road transport and inland navigation on the Danube, was supported with €100 million of EU funding through the Connecting Europe Facility (85% of the total costs).

    The new two-lane, 600-metre bridge links the ports of the two Danube cities and removes a crucial bottleneck – the existing Erzsébet Bridge is not suitable for vehicles heavier than 20 tonnes.

    The bridge includes two bicycle lanes.

  • Slovakia: Construction volume reached EUR 458,2 million in July 2020

    Slovakia: Construction volume reached EUR 458,2 million in July 2020

    In July 2020, the decrease of construction production in Slovakia, year-on-year, remained significant, at 13,3 %.

    Although in July 2020, the construction output mitigated its year-on-year decrease, it remained very significant.

    Compared with July 2019, it decreased by 13,3 %, its total volume reached EUR 458,2 million. Compared with June 2020, it dropped by 0,7 %, after seasonal adjustment.

    Compared with July 2019, output realized by domestic construction enterprises decreased by 12,9 % (in June, the decrease was by 18,6 %). In total, it reached EUR 430,5 million.

    Over the first seven months of 2020 compared with the corresponding period in 2019, construction output decreased by 8,4 % and reached EUR 2 757,9 million.

    The volume of domestic output reached EUR 2 561,3  million which is by 9,6 % lower than last year.

    The volume of construction works in new construction, renewals and enhancements decreased by 9,9 % to EUR 1 811,1 million and in repairs and maintenance by 10,5 % to EUR 658,4 million. Non-domestic output was higher by 9,5 %.

  • Saris Brewery invested 850.000 euros in a malting plant

    Saris Brewery invested 850.000 euros in a malting plant

    Slovak Saris Brewery invested over 850.000 euros during the summer in a malting plant, where it replaced machinery and equipment, Ekonomika says.

    The whole process, together with the preparatory work, took almost half a year and also required the dismantling of the roof of the malting room.

    The investment is intended to deliver energy savings and lower the environmental impact.

    Last year the brewery invested more than two million euros in the canister line, this year they focused on streamlining the malting room.

  • Slovakia trade balance: surplus of EUR 166,6 million this year

    Slovakia trade balance: surplus of EUR 166,6 million this year

    In January-June 2020, Slovak foreign trade balance was in surplus in the amount of EUR 166,6 million (by EUR 750,2 million lower than in the corresponding period last year).

    Goods in the amount of EUR 33 839 million were exported from the Slovak Republic. Compared with corresponding period of 2019, the total export decreased by 16,9 %.

    In terms of goods, the highest decrease was recorded in export of motor cars and other motor vehicles principally designed for transport of persons by EUR 2 550,1 million, parts and accessories of motor vehicles by EUR 479 million, monitors and projectors, reception apparatus for television by EUR 460,4 million, flat-rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel, hot rolled by EUR 222,5 million and new rubber tires by EUR 200,1 million.

    The highest increase was recorded in export of structure and their parts of iron and steel by EUR 48,1 million and medicaments for sale at retail by EUR 40,3 million.

    As for the most significant trade partners, export to Germany and the United Kingdom decreased by 18,9 %, Czechia and France by 17,3 %, Poland by 9,4 %, Hungary by 11,6 %, Austria by 13,9 %, Italy by 25,7 %, the USA by 39,6 %, Spain by 27,9 %, Romania by 20,7 % and the Netherlands by 8,1 %.

    In terms of the main economic groupings, export to the EU countries decreased by 16,5 % (it represented 79,5 % of the total export of the SR) and to the OECD countries by 17,1 % (it represented 87,9 % of the total export of the SR).  

    Goods in the amount of EUR 33 672,4 million were imported to the Slovak Republic with a year-on-year decrease of 15,4 %.

  • Accommodation establishments in Slovakia continued the drop in June

    Accommodation establishments in Slovakia continued the drop in June

    In June 2020, accommodation establishments in Slovakia continued to face drop in attendance, the number of guests dropped by more than 68 % year-on-year, number of foreigners by up to 86 %.

    In June 2020, 193.468 persons were accommodated in tourism establishments in the SR, which was by five time more visitors than in May 2020, however, attendance significantly lagged behind the situation in June 2019.

    The number of guests was lower by 68,3 %, year-on-year. The visitors spent 579.610 nights in the establishments which was a lower number by 63,2 %, compared with June 2019.

    The visitors in the whole SR were in particular, domestic visitors, for the third consecutive month, in June their number represented 82,5 % of the total number of accommodated.

    There is still only minimal attendance of foreigners, in hotels, boarding houses and other accommodation establishments only 33,8 thous. foreign visitors were registered. In the corresponding period last year, there were 242,4 thous. foreign visitors.

    Among the regions of Slovakia, the most significant year-on-year decrease of guests was recorded in the region of Bratislava by 82,8 %. For a long time, foreigners make up the majority of visitors, whose number was lower by more than 90 %.

    The most visited regions of Slovakia- Žilina and Prešov regions- recorded a year-on-year drop in the number of the accommodated persons approximately by 60 %.

    In June, on average, visitors spent 3 nights in accommodation establishments in the SR, of which domestic visitors 3,1 and foreign visitors 2,3 nights.

  • Czechia leads in the number of card transactions made by Slovaks abroad

    Czechia leads in the number of card transactions made by Slovaks abroad

    Czech Republic, followed by Austria, are the main holiday preferences of Slovaks, a Tatra Banka ranking shows.

    The report was made on the basis of the number of credit card transactions carried out for the months of June and July, comparing this year with 2019.

    Transaction volumes in the top ten countries visited by Slovaks fell by more than 38% compared to the same month last year. 

    “For Croatia, the popular holiday home of Slovaks, we are registering a slump in transaction volumes of more than 47 percent and for Italy by as much as 80 percent,” the bank said in the report.

    After the Czech Republic and Austria, Germany is third (was fifth last year). Hungary remained fourth, Poland moved one position to sixth, as did France from 10th to ninth place. Top ten is closed by The United Kingdom, which has fallen two places compared to last year.

    Spain is not in this year’s list of top 10 countries visited by Slovaks. The Netherlands jumped five places, from last year’s 12th to seventh place in 2020.

  • Slovakia GDP decreased by 12.1% in the second quarter of 2020

    Slovakia GDP decreased by 12.1% in the second quarter of 2020

    In the second quarter of 2020 the gross domestic product (GDP) at constant prices decreased by 12.1% as compared to the same quarter of 2019.

    After seasonal adjustment GDP decreased by 12.1% as compared to the second quarter of 2019 and by 8.3% in comparison with the previous quarter.

    The volume of GDP at current prices in the second quarter of 2020 reached EUR 21,210.5 million what represented the decrease by 10.4% in comparison with the same quarter of 2019.

    The GDP slighter decline than expected was caused by increased activity in the last month of the second quarter in key industries, especially car manufacturing, as well as small businesses.

    The positive foreign trade balance also contributed to the moderation of the decline in GDP.

  • Slovakia: Retail turnover reached last year level in June

    Slovakia: Retail turnover reached last year level in June

    In June, the easing of measures taken in connection with the COVID-19 was reflected in positive month-on-month growth in all selected trade activities.

    After three months of more significant declines, turnover of retail trade decreased only by 1,6 % year-on-year.

    Compared with June 2019, three out of nine groups of stores reported higher turnover, in addition to supermarkets and hypermarkets, also specialized stores for households and stores of goods of information and communication technologies.

    Although, the volume of turnover in all selected trade activities did not reach the pre-pandemic level, but in most of them, it approached the volume of the corresponding period last year.

    Turnover of wholesale even slightly exceeded the last year’s volume (by 1,2 %).

    Although, turnover of retail trade and sale and repair of motor vehicles were lower than a year ago, but this was the slightest decline in recent months.

    The development was favourable at the month-on-month level, each of the main activities recorded a growth, turnover of accommodation and food and beverage service activities increased by more than half (in accommodation by 54 % and in food and beverage service activities by 50,5 %).

  • Slovak altFINS secures €1 million seed funding for global expansion

    Slovak altFINS secures €1 million seed funding for global expansion

    altFINS, a platform that allows users to screen, analyze, and trade crypto-assets, has secured more than €1 million in seed funding.

    The Fintech company said that the funds raised will be used to enhance the platform’s capabilities and will also be used to scale its services.

    The company aims to serve more private and institutional clients by helping them make informed investment related decisions and assist them with gaining exposure to crypto-assets.

    Established in 2018, altFINS aims to offer a comprehensive, and user-friendly or intuitive platform that allows traders to aggregate financial data and news updates. Traders that use altFINS are able to analyze different altcoins (alternative coins besides Bitcoin).