BRATISLAVA, March 18, (WEBNOVINY) – Staff costs of the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) increased by almost 9 percent in 2010. According to the NBS financial statements, it reached 34.4 million euro, compared to 31.6 million in 2009. In early 2011, effectiveness of NBS operation became a target of criticism by the Parliamentary Financial Committee and by the Finance Ministry.
Last year, the number of NBS employees changed only slightly compared to 2009; statistically it was reduced by one person to 1,082. 102 employees were the management. “NBS is analyzing the effectiveness of the processes and activities exercised in the central bank with focus on fulfilling the tasks assigned to it by law continuously,” NBS spokeswoman Petra Pauerova told SITA regarding the bank’s future personnel policies.
In January 2011, Finance Minister Ivan Miklos said that NBS does not need a second Vice-Governor, whose office has been empty for already a year, at all. According to him, they also have enough space to improve the effectiveness and curb costs. Miklos also thinks that the bank might suffer from overemployment. The Minister thus joined the NBS criticism by Parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee head Jozef Kollar (SaS), who expressed his doubts on NBS effectiveness already in fall 2010. His committee even asked the bank to submit an effectiveness analysis, which, according to Kollar, NBS failed to elaborate in a sufficient quality.
NBS defended its effectiveness in the analysis. “Based on the comparison of NBS with other euro zone central banks, we can conclude that reducing the number of the bank’s employees and costs would only be possible via reallocating its activities to other institutions of the Slovak Republic, which would mean a burden for the state budget,” stated the analysis.
SITA