Economy

To know how to fight for freedom is important. But it is also important to know how to preserve this freedom. And a look into our recent past unveils that we lost it right in the years 1948 and 1968, although in the second case, we lost more or less only the hope for freedom. And unfortunately, we may lose it again.

The Slovak Ministry of Finance sent the entrepreneurs a special package this week. It contains as many as seven (!) new tax law amendments. The extraordinary content of the tax package is the reason for red alert among entrepreneurs. This attitude is the result of previous negative experiences.

The past two weeks were chiefly engulfed by news concerning banks and regulations in relation to cryptocurrencies. Providing some balance on the other side of the spectre were positive pieces introducing Bitcoin´s newfound capacity to cover electricity bill payments in Japan or coffee-breaks in Russia.

Let us remind you that many posts at the state-owned enterprises require an access to classified information. This means that in order to be able to work there one must acquire the so-called “confirmation of security” issued by Internal Security Agency (ABW) or – in the case of military institutions – Military Counterintelligence Service (SKW).

In 2015, the USAID Leadership in Economic Governance (LEV) Program conducted a large-scale survey of small and medium enterprises (Annual Business Climate Assessment in Ukraine). One of the features of this survey is that entrepreneurs themselves identify obstacles to doing business and reforms they expect from the state.

We believe that if the state ceases to intervene in the pricing mechanisms, the profitability of enterprises will improve, investments will increase and administrative burden on business will be reduced. On the other hand, there are certain risks that were the reason why the government abolished this regulation in the form of experiment.

In late 2015 – early 2016, when the ABCA survey was conducted, Ukrainian small and medium businesses mostly assessed business climate in the country as neutral or negative. Only 6% of the polled SMEs believed that business climate was favorable.

It looks like cryptocurrencies are once again becoming a reliable payment method for citizens living in unfavourable conditions. Just recently, Venezuela joined the ranks of the likes of Greece, China, or Cyprus in opening the gates for cryptocurrencies.

Redistribution may be defined as the transfer of tax revenue to finance the state apparatus and maintain the government. One of the ways to calculate the size of redistribution of an economy is to calculate the ratio between tax revenue and the gross domestic product (GDP).

On September 14, 2016, the Lithuanian Parliament endorsed a new Labour Code which will bring about the most notable changes in terms of types of employment contracts, working time and overtime regulation, annual leave, employee dismissal procedures, and the size of severance pay.