The annual congress of the Slovak Entrepreneurs Association, which took place in Bratislava on Friday, evaluated the past 25 years with particular stress on the present-day business environment. The Slovak Entrepreneurs Association was the first association of entrepreneurs to come into being after November 1989.
According to the association’s President Ján Oravec, the period spanning 1989-2014 has been, from the point of view of business, a period marked by the formation of a class of entrepreneurs and the business environment. Vast changes have occurred over the period. The share of the private sector in Slovakia's GDP rose from near zero to more than the EU average within less than ten years of the fall of Communism, with the indicator reaching some 90% in the late 1990s. Oravec also praised the substantial changes in the structure of the economy since 1989, as in the late 1980s individual industries were dominated by major companies. Although such large enterprises continue to play an important role, the level of ownership diversification has improved.
However, more than a few negatives have occurred in the business environment since 1989. While the 1990s were marked by liberalisation, privatisation and deregulation, what prevails nowadays is protectionism according to Oravec. Also on a negative note, Oravec said that entrepreneurs are viewed in a bad light by the general public.
