Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic Miroslav Lajčák met with his Maltese counterpart George Vella, who was accompanying the President of the Republic of Malta, George Abela, during his official visit to Slovakia.

The property prices have a significant effect on household spending and indebtedness, the mortgage market, investment development and ultimately also on overall economic activity, overall price changes and global financial and monetary stability in the medium and long term.



Development of residential property prices in Slovakia - average prices in € per m2:

Year	Price in €/m2	Year 2002=100	Y on Y change in %
2013 1Q	1,240	209.5	0.4
2012	1237	209.0	-1.1
2011	1251	211.3	-3.1
2010	1291	218.1	-3.9
2009	1344	227.0	-11.1
2008	1511	255.2	22.1

.....

Slovakia - In January 2011, the economic sentiment indicator (ESI) has improved by 1,9 to 97,1 percentage points. The indicator development has been affected by an increase of confidence in industry and in trade. The economic sentiment indicator has increased by 12,3 points, year-on-year, and it is still behind the long-term average by 0,8 p.p.

People in Slovakia see unemployment as the most crucial problem currently worrying the country. According to the results of a survey recently conducted by Slovak Public Affairs Institute (IVO), almost two-thirds of respondents (64%) consider the high jobless rate to be the most troublesome issue.

The economic freedom in Slovakia worsened last year, the 2011 Index of Economic Freedom released by the Heritage Foundation says. Slovakia dropped two spots from last year while its overall score has decreased by 0.2 point, mainly as a result of declines in freedom from corruption and property rights. A year ago the country gained 0.3 points.

The Slovak Republic changes the system of charging the road infrastructure from highway stickers to the electronic toll collection system. The new electronic tolling system put into operation at midnight on 1st January 2010.

The Slovak labour market is battling the problem of long-term joblessness, which probably will not fall until at least 2012. It's a long-standing problem in Slovak economy. For a long time Slovakia is among the countries with the highest long-term unemployment in the European Union.