BRATISLAVA, November 24, (WEBNOVINY) — The sum that Slovakia will have to guarantee from a loan to Ireland has not been determined yet, said Minister of Finance Ivan Miklos to journalists on Wednesday. “It is one percent of a sum, which, however, has not been specified yet. The interval disseminated in the media stands because technical talks between Europe’s financial safety net – the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Ireland are still underway,” said the minister. Media informed that the sum from EFSF, which also comprises IMF and the European Commission besides the eurozone’s states, for Ireland should be in the range from EUR 80 billion to EUR 90 billion.
The Minister of Finance informed the Cabinet on the present situation on Wednesday. He did not elaborate whether he was given a mandate to be in charge of further decision-making on provision of the guarantee. He repeated his reservations that he already voiced after the EU finance ministers approved the loan for Ireland on Sunday. He is convinced that it not correct that costs on the assistance will only be on shoulders of taxpayers. “Clear rules need to be defined for involvement of the private sector or restructuring of the debt or burden of costs to be borne by the banking and financial sector ,” said Miklos.
Slovakia’s Minister of Finance also reiterated that Ireland is in a completely different situation than Greece. He says that the country has a competitive economy, never has it lied about public finances and always kept the public debt low. “Banks pose the fundamental problem since the real estate and financial bubble, which was inflated in Ireland, was too huge. The government made a mistake that it guaranteed fully and without restrictions all bank deposits and thus took up costs incurred by bubble’s bursting,” assumed Miklos.
SITA