Finance Minister respect well deserved, says Prime Minister

Slovak Finance Minister Peter Kažimír (Smer-SD) has enjoyed a high level of respect for many years and has a tremendous reputation within the European Union finance ministry. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) said this at a press conference on Wednesday, following Kažimír being selected as the winner of the 2018 European Finance Minister of the Year award by the British weekly The Banker in recognition of his work and the results accomplished by the Slovak economy. "The reasons why Peter Kažimír was declared Minister of Finance of Europe 2018 are quite obvious and cannot be disputed. It is due to a very significant pace of the consolidation of public finances, while maintaining high economic growth," the prime minister said. According to the weekly The Banker, since Kažimír took up the post of finance minister in 2012, the Slovak economy has seen a pronounced revival, with the Slovak budget deficit scrunched down from 4.3 percent of GDP in 2012 to the planned 0.83 percent of GDP this year.