Slovakia is the third poorest country in the EU
Slovakia is serious about becoming the poorest country in the European Union. Working people can rarely afford as little for their money as in the domestic economy. The last five governments, whose common feature is zero potential in the field of economic reforms and the populist distribution of money to selected groups of voters, are more than bad.
The negative development is best illustrated by a look into the past. The year is 2010 and Slovakia is the ninth poorest country in the European Union. The people of Hungary and Poland live much worse in the Visegrad Four region. Only the Czech Republic offers a slightly higher standard of living.
Hungary is facing bankruptcy
Let’s move back twelve years. The new Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán remains in a really bad situation. After the outbreak of the financial crisis, the markets refused to lend enough money to other countries. The first was Hungary and the second was Greece. The world media is predominantly reporting on the government’s problems in Athens. the euro is equal and a possible bankruptcy can bury the entire euro area. German banks, which have invested heavily in Greek bonds, are particularly at risk and French financial institutions have slightly less problems.
The Hungarian problems do not bother the world. In the local economy, it is still paid in national currency – the forint. Only Hungarian banks will endanger potential problems, and the country is kept afloat, especially by loans from the International Monetary Fund. The country prescribes “medicine” in the form of cuts in social benefits and tax increases.
Tough conditions lead to a permanent conflict with the new Prime Minister V. Orbán. “We must maintain our economic independence and creditors cannot dictate to us what to do,” he said in 2010. Hungary was the poorest country in the European Union at the time, and many predicted a fall at the bottom of the rankings. At the same time, Slovakia still enjoyed the Central European reform tiger.
Slovak fall to the bottom
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