Finance Minister mourns the loss of chief economist Filko as his closest aide

"Martin Filko was my closest aide and a friend, so his passing hurts me both personally and professionally," said Finance Minister Peter Kažimír on Wednesday after Filko's body was found in the Danube River near the village of Dobrohošť. Filko had been missing since March 28th, when his canoe capsized in the Danube in Bratislava. "As director of the Finance Ministry's Institute of Finance Policy (IFP), he and his team carried out a huge pile of work that is irreplaceable for the ministry, even though it's rather invisible to the public. The institute he headed is a unique body in the entire Slovak public sector, and as Martin was proud of it, I am too," said Minister Kažimír. Filko advised current Finance Minister Peter Kažimír and former Finance Minister Jan Počiatek. He also served as an advisor to former Prime Minister Iveta Radičová. He was well known thanks to his reform regarding the setting of prices for medicine, which brought significant savings. A few days after the March 5th general election, Filko, along with economists Ľudovít Odor and Stefan Kiss, presented an initiative called 'The Best of All Possible Worlds - Value for Money in Slovak Public Policies'.