Opposition parties the Christian Democrats (KDH) and Most-Hid initiated a meeting of the parliamentary finance and budget committee on Monday to ask Slovak Central Bank Governor Jozef Makúch about the impacts of the purchase of government bonds by the European Central Bank (ECB) on Slovak taxpayers and the effects of the Greek issue on Slovakia's economy. "The situation in the eurozone isn't good. Slovakia could suffer from this. There is the threat that bubbles may emerge, and if they burst, it could result in another wave of crisis", said Christian Democrats' vice-chair Miloš Moravčik, adding that Makúch should report to lawmakers on the risks related to so-called quantitative easing by the ECB involving the purchase of bonds to the tune of €60 billion a month. "This release of new money significantly increases the risk of a new wave of crisis. Slovakia as a small and open economy wouldn't be able to defend itself from it. Every crisis begins with inflating a bubble on the markets, and this is what's currently taking place", the MP said.
Last week the ECB decided that the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.05%, 0.30% and -0.20% respectively. It based its decision on "expectations of the economic recovery to broaden and strengthen gradually and low oil prices to support households' real disposable income". Some Slovak opposition MPs are cautious. "In the future, when interest rate increases again, many will have problems paying mortgages and will face the risk of seeing their property seized", warned Moravčik, adding that entrepreneurs will venture to make risky business deals if they're able to obtain money easily, a situation that could result in the collapse of many companies.
