Opposition: Economy Will Be Damaged Most by Transaction Tax and Trump's Tariffs

Bratislava, April 9 (TASR) - The Slovak economy will be damaged most by the transaction tax as well as the tariffs imposed on exports of all goods and services from the European Union to the United States, stated opposition parties Progressive Slovakia (PS) and Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) on Wednesday, criticising the government for not coming up with any measures to deal with this yet. "The new tariffs will probably damage Slovakia most among all European countries. This is a huge catastrophe that is crashing down on us and which this government is very consistently ignoring," said PS head Michal Simecka, adding that up to 20,000 jobs could be lost in the automotive industry and that gross domestic product may drop by 2.7 percent by 2027. He stressed that all European countries are currently tackling the consequences of the imposed tariffs, but the Slovak cabinet, instead of convening a crisis management team to address the situation, is discussing issues such as NGOs. Simecka called on Economy Minister Denisa Sakova (Voice-SD) and Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) to come up with not only short-term, but also long-term measures for the automotive industry. In the future, the state should focus more on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises and the need to invest in innovation so that Slovakia won't be dependent on the automotive industry alone. SaS chairman Branislav Groehling also commented on the transaction tax, which is currently bankrupting businesses because it is disproportionately burdensome for entrepreneurs. According to him, the government is not addressing people's problems, but is destroying the Slovak economy. The transaction tax will be felt by people when food, goods and services become more expensive. Employers will have to take approximately €200-300 from their employees' salaries each year because of the financial transaction tax. am/df