Banking levy eliminated
The government and the local banking association SBA signed a memorandum on elimination of the special banking levy as of July 1. The government will lose €300m in annual revenue. The money banks have already paid on the levy will be moved to a newly created Slovakia Development Fund that will finance housing, healthcare, and education (€1bn). As previous governments have been spending the levy revenues, the new fund will in fact be funded by new debts. The remaining €500m will be moved to a resolution fund to support the financial sector at the time of crisis, as well as to the Deposit Protection Fund. The government hopes the elimination of the levy will improve the banks’ lending capacity. Banks agreed to cut their dividend payments in 2019-22 by the value of the banking levy (0.2% of deposits) and withdraw all lawsuits against the state.
