Download Basic Macroeconomic Information

Challenges and Implementation
of the Knowledge Economy
in the Slovak Republic
Dušan Faktor
State Secretary
Ministry of Transport, Posts and Telecommunication
1
Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
Basic Macroeconomic and Regulatory Environment
Basic Macroeconomic Information
Indicator
Territory (km2)
Population
Number of Households
GDP (mld Euro)
GDP Growth (%)
GDP per capita (Euro)
Annual Inflation Rate (%)
2001
49 053
5 379 500
1 665 536
22.4*
+3.2*
4150
7.5*
*
estimated
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
Basic Macroeconomic and Regulatory Environment
Macroeconomic Environment






1998 – Macroeconomic instability and international isolation
1999 – Stabilisation measures and renewed integration process
2000 – Restored macrostability and OECD membership (Slovakia –
30th member of OECD – December 2000)
2001 – Sustainable growth and rapid progress in EU and NATO
integration (22 closed chapters)
2001 – Banking sector fully consolidated and recapitalised, over
90% privately owned
Reduction of public sector expenditures
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
Basic Macroeconomic and Regulatory Environment
Government Priorities

Membership in NATO

Further progress in EU integration

Sustaining Macroeconomic Stability

Structural Reform and Privatisation
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
Basic Macroeconomic and Regulatory Environment
Priority Objectives for building Information Society in Slovakia

Participate in the forming knowledge-based and digital economy

Ensure all citizens of Slovakia to stand up to competition in the knowledge-based and
digital economy at the global level

Exploit the innovative potential of ICT at the level that guarantees the competitiveness
in global economy (by removing barriers for e-commerce)

Alleviate citizens´ access to public services as well as promoting online interaction
between citizens and government (eGovernment)

Create opportunities for development of all forms of education which enables the
integration of the Slovak Republic and its citizens into the global information society

Harmonise information society related activities with the activities of European Union,
mainly the promotion of Action Plan eEurope+
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
Basic Macroeconomic and Regulatory Environment
Policy and Regulatory Environment

Telecommunication Policy for 2002 – 2004
(Resolution No. 440, June 14, 2000)

Policy of Information Society Development
(Resolution No. 552, June 13, 2001)
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
Basic Macroeconomic and Regulatory Environment
State Information System Act Passed in 1995, transformation into several bills
expected in 2002
Telecommunication Act
Fully liberalised environment in 2003; new,
independent regulatory Office of
Telecommunications
Passed in 2000, amendments under preparation
Personal Data Protection Act
Passed in 1998; amendments now in public
discussion, ready for submission to the
Government
Freedom of Information Act
Passed in 2000
Protection of Classified
Information Act
Passed in 1996; amendments passed in 2001;
adjusting to NATO-EU legislation
Digital Signature legislation
Submitted to Parliament
E-Commerce legislation
Under preparation
Others
Copyright issues, intellectual property, etc.
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
Basic Macroeconomic and Regulatory Environment
3200
FDI + External Debt Comparison
In million USD
2700
FDI Inflow
514
2200
External debt increase
2 031
356
1700
206
194
1200
236
700
1 300
700
1 300
1 500
2 200
389
570
200
300
-200
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
01
20
00
20
99
19
98
19
97
19
96
19
95
19
19
94
-300
Source: National Bank of Slovakia
Basic Macroeconomic and Regulatory Environment
FDI – Top Priority

ACT ON INVESTMENT INCENTIVES
 Tax holidays – 10 years
 Contribution up to 4000 EUR per employee p.a.
 Trashold investment project 5 mil EUR

ACT ON INDUSTRIAL PARKS
 Contribution up to 70% of infrastructure costs
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
Source: National Bank of Slovakia
Basic Macroeconomic and Regulatory Environment
Privatisation of Utilities

SPP (gas utility) – Completion expected in February 2002

Transpetrol (oil pipeline) - Completion expected in December 2001

Electricity Distribution Companies - Completion expected in April
2002

Slovenske elektrarne (electric utility) – to be privatised in 2002
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
Education and Social Capital
Education - Structure
Basic
University
9%
12%
Secondary
79%
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
Source: Slovak Statistical Office
Education and Social Capital
Access to Knowledge and Information – Main Projects
INFOVEK (INFO-AGE) - provides an access to Internet to all the
elementary (age 6-14, approx. 2500) and secondary (age 14-18,
approx. 900) schools by the end of 2005 together with building
the multimedia materials, digital content for curriculum etc.; 20%
by the end of 2001, total cost expected: $50-67 mil.
SANET – Slovak Academic NETwork – connects all the universities
(total number of universities – 23), cooperation in GEANT
project, next year an upgrade to high speed network is expected
(1 Gbps); the goal is to provide a high speed internet access for
science and research
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
Education and Social Capital
Project INFOVEK – 4 main principles
1) Equip all schools in Slovakia with computers and connection to
Internet
(building hardware infrastructure; 800 schools in 2002)
2) Train teachers to integrate ICT in modern teaching and learning
processes
(training programs for teachers, management, teacher universities)
3) Develop new educational contents
(building digital literacy, www.infovek.sk)
4) Promote digital literacy in local communities
(schools as local Internet centres)
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
Education and Social Capital
Unemployment Remains A Problem ...
... but creates opportunities as well
20%
15%
10%
19,2%
14,4% 14,6% 13,1%
12,8% 12,5%
17,9%
15,6%
17,4%
5%
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
XI
.0
1
00
20
99
19
98
19
97
19
96
19
95
19
94
19
19
93
0%
Source: National Labour Office
Education and Social Capital
Number of Inhabitants in a Productive Age
in thousands
3 400
3 300
3 200
3 100
3 195
3 152
3 266
3 231
3 332
3 300
3 390
3 361
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
00
20
99
19
98
19
97
19
96
19
95
19
94
19
19
93
3 000
Source: Slovak Statistical Office
Education and Social Capital
Unemployment and Structural Reforms
Industry Performance
517
512
506
Number of employees (in thousands)
482
462
Profit before tax (in billion SKK)
33
444
32
23
20
14
4
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
00
20
99
19
98
19
97
19
96
19
19
95
400
Source: Slovak Statistical Office
ICT Infrastructure
Development of Telecommunication Services









The telecom. network market liberalised since 1998 (excl. basic
voice service)
1 incumbent operator (Slovak Telecom)
2 mobile operators (GSM)
3 FWA licences
cca 60 Internet providers
cca 20 - Voice over IP
2 national paging networks (RDS and POCSAG)
1 national and 1 regional trunking network (430 MHz)
VSAT services, data services, ...
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
ICT Infrastructure
Penetration (Fixed Telephone Lines)
40
35
30,66
31,43
28,54
30
28,8
25,88
23,22
25
20
20,85
16,87
18,75
15
10
5
0
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
1998
1999
2000
2001
ICT Infrastructure
Number of Fixed Telephone Lines per 100 Households
70
57
60
%
61,1
63,4
64,8
59,7
49,2
50
40
61
42,2
37,8
30
20
10
0
1993
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
2000 2001
ICT Infrastructure
Penetration – Mobile Telephony
50
39,70
40
%
%
30
20,54
20
10
0
0,50
1996
3,45
1997
8,77
1998
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
12,30
1999
2000
2001
ICT Infrastructure
Internet

Number of Internet domestic users (6/2001)
103,000

Total number of home PC´s per 100 inh.
3.3

Total number of business PC´s per 100 inh.
10

Total number of PC´s per 100 inh.
13.3

Number of addresses under country domain (11/2000)
56,315

Number of Internet hosts (12/1999)
39,774
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
ICT Infrastructure
Internet Users and Host Computers
800000
580000
600000
56434
22064
200000
150000
320000
39774
400000
189271
510000
0
1998
1999
2000
Řada1
Internet HOSTS
2001
Řada2
Internet Users
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
ICT Infrastructure
Access to Internet (% of Users)
% of all users
60
51
50
34
40
23
30
20
19
8
10
0
work
internet
cafe
home
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
school
mobile
phone
ICT Infrastructure
%of households connected to
CATV
Cable TV
50,0
43
40,0
30,0
20,0
23,7
28,4
31,8
34,6
37,7
18,1
10,0
0,0
1995
1996
1997
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
1998
1999
2000
2001
ICT Infrastructure
Access to Knowledge and Information – Government Projects
GOVNET – GOVernment NETwork – extending the existing infrastructure
between central state government institutions (approx. 40) to the
regions (8) and districts (79); the main state infrastructure for
information systems of public administration, e-Government delivery,
basis for kiosks, libraries, etc.; cooperation between state and local
authorities necessary ($40 mil., backbone 622 Mbps – 1 Gbp)
DIGITAL LIBRARIES – information and communication system for
libraries and transformation to digital content, providing a public
access points to the Internet
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002
Thank You !
www.government.gov.sk
www.telecom.gov.sk
www.education.gov.sk
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Knowledge Economy Forum, Paris, February 20, 2002