The Slovak koruna came under pressure
again yesterday as it moved close to the last
intervention level of 38.70. Investors were
waiting for the meeting of Prime Minister
Robert Fico and Finance Minister Jan
Pociatek with central bank Governor Ivan
Sramko. After the meeting Fico said the
government wants to meet all the conditions
for adopting the euro in 2009 as planned. He
also added the government will fulfill all
Maastricht criteria and that they have an
eminent interest not to exceed the 3% GDP
public finance deficit. Shortly after his
statement the koruna slightly firmed to
38.56, but returned back to weaker levels at
the end of the day.
Apparently, investors are still afraid that the
new government will loosen fiscal policy and
not be able to stick to the original date of
EMU entry. The most important factor will be
concrete steps of the new coalition in the
economic area, which will be known after the
publication of the new cabinet program. For
today, we don’t see a trigger to change
sentiment for the better for the SKK
EUR/SKK again above the central parity.
(CSOB - Investment research)