Transparent rules for granting investment stimuli

The cabinet approved rules for providing state aid to investors. According to Finance Minister Ivan Miklos, these rules will ensure greater objectivity, flexibility, and transparency and will increase security for investors. He later explained that Slovakia will be first of all divided into three zones. The first red one contains regions with unemployment rate up to 10 percent. The second yellow one will include regions with a jobless rate ranging from 10 to 15 percent and the third green one will feature regions with unemployment above 15 percent.

The rules also differentiate between an A type project, which means investments into the processing industry; B type projects will include high-tech technologies and C type projects concerning research and development centers. The higher the unemployment rate and sophistication of added value, the higher the rate of investment stimuli," explained the finance minister. Efficient stimuli volumes, retaining Slovakia's competitiveness with its neighboring countries, cannot, however, exceed the limits set by Brussels for investment projects.

Priority is also to be given to projects that are unable to be carried out without investment stimuli. The non-existence of transparent rules has made investors uncertain with regard to the amount and structure of state aid possible in a given sector or region. Proposers of these rules say that not approving the immensely high investment stimuli, as was the case with Hankook Tire of South Korea, has a negative influence on Slovakia's credit in investors' eyes.