Minister of Economy Richard Sulik called on companies that have asked the state for investment incentives to complement their projects if necessary and be actively interested in the possibility of such assistance from the state. "I want to encourage them to switch to the highest gear if they are interested in getting investment aid," he told at the Thursday's press conference. Currently, the economy department has over 20 applications on the table.
According to Sulik, the ministry is ready to process them, and if necessary, it is willing to deploy more officials on this agenda. He also called on further companies planning to invest in Slovakia to turn to the economy department, which is also ready to consider new applications. "What our country needs is a recovery of the economy and to speed up investments," he said.
Sulík also reiterated that, according to the Freedom and Solidarity party (SaS), investment incentives distort the market and the Liberals oppose them. "At the same time, however, we perceive that there are exceptions, for example, in offsetting regional disparities," he said. "We will pay attention not only to what support is allocated per job, but also to what the job specifically represents," the minister said, adding that his ministry would support jobs with higher added value. "Warehousemen and installers are coming to Slovakia and engineers and doctors are leaving, and this is not good for the country in the long run," he said. At the same time, the party wants to prefer tax relief over direct investment aid regarding investment incentives.
All currently assessed requests were submitted during the tenure of the previous government, Sulik added. They could create 420 jobs in Slovakia.
