SBA: extraordinary levy bad news for Slovakia as well as banks

The Government's proposal for taking a bigger divot out of the earnings of Slovak banks will lead to a slowdown of economic growth and a rise in unemployment, Slovak Bank Association spokesperson Monika Kuhajdova said on Wednesday. She spoke in response to Premier Robert Fico's statements on Tuesday indicating that the state could gain an additional 125 million euros via introducing an extraordinary bank levy. The measure could bring 25 million euros into the budget in 2012 and another 100 million euros in 2013.