38. Slovak Republic
SMEs dominate the Slovak economy, accounting for 99.6% of the business population (excluding self-employed individuals). The number of SMEs increased by 0.2% in 2020, with micro-enterprises accounting for a considerable portion of this growth, growing by 1.2% year-on-year.
Credit conditions and access to finance for SMEs improved in 2020, which was reflected not only in an increase in the volume of existing and new bank loans but also in a decline of the average interest rate. The financial instruments to support SMEs introduced during the pandemic have made a significant contribution to maintaining a relatively low rate of non-performing loans (NPLs). The amount of outstanding business loans has been growing since 2013, increasing by 6.2% over the last year, from EUR 15 255 million in 2019 to EUR 16 208 million in 2020. In the same year, more than half of SME outstanding loans (59.6%) were long-term, while short-term loans accounted for 40.4% (EUR 6 547 million).
Favourable credit conditions and the availability of supporting financial instruments during the COVID-19 crisis increased interest in bank financing for all size categories of enterprises. The volume of new SME lending increased year-on-year by 30.6% to EUR 4 201 million, while the share of SME loans in total new lending increased by 2.8 percentage points to 37.3%.
The share of NPLs among all SME loans was higher (4.6%) than the share of NPLs among all business loans (3.4%) in 2020. In the year-on-year comparison, the share of NPLs among SMEs increased only negligibly – by 0.05 percentage points.
Interest rates on SME loans fell from 3.8% in 2012 to 2.6% in 2020. The drop in the average SME interest rate over these years has made finance available to more SMEs. Interest rates for self-employed entrepreneurs reached 4.5% in 2020, 0.8 percentage points lower than in the previous year. These figures indicate that financing conditions for SMEs have been gradually improving over the reference period.
For the period of 2007-2013, the amount of venture and capital investments gradually recovered. After 2017 the volume of venture and growth capital experienced a significant decline as a result of the end of funding support under the JEREMIE initiative. In 2020, the amount of venture capital investments increased year-on-year by 23.5%, totalling EUR 37.85 million. The majority of investments focused on established SMEs – to expand production capacities, to develop market potential or to further develop products and services. Compared to SME bank financing, the amount of venture capital is still negligible.
The payment discipline of enterprises has improved, as the average business-to-business (B2B) payment delay decreased to 14 days in 2020.
SME bankruptcies totalled 177 over the year. Despite the declining trend and the significant year-on-year drop in 2020 (-26%), the number of SME bankruptcies for 2020 remains higher than the pre-crisis bankruptcy levels of 2008.
The government has continued to implement several policies that seek to improve SMEs’ access to finance and introduced new instruments to support SME financing during the COVID-19 crisis. In 2020, the volume of SME government loan guarantees, guaranteed loans and SME government direct loans increased significantly due to the launch of new financial instruments intended to minimise the adverse effects of the pandemic and to support SMEs. The total volume of SME government loan guarantees increased from EUR 31.7 million in 2019 to EUR 407.3 million in 2020. As a result of the increase in bank guarantees, there was also a significant increase in the volume of guaranteed loans – from EUR 152.5 million in 2019 to EUR 774.4 million in 2020. The volume of SME government direct loans provided by the state banks and the Slovak Business Agency grew less rapidly – by 20.1% to EUR 245.1 million.
SMEs still dominate the Slovak economy, accounting for 99.6% of the business population (excluding self-employed individuals). The number of SMEs increased by 0.2% in 2020, and micro-enterprises accounted for a considerable portion of this growth, growing by 1.2% year-on-year.
The majority of SMEs (88.8%) were micro-enterprises in 2020, employing up to nine people. Almost 9% of all firms represented small enterprises and 1.8% were medium-sized enterprises. The bulk of SMEs were legal entities, but almost a fifth (19.0%) consisted of self-employed entrepreneurs. The number of self-employed entrepreneurs decreased by 6.5% year-on-year in 2020, to 28 683.
In 2020, SMEs contributed 45.3% to gross production, slightly higher than in 2019 (44.8%). SMEs’ share of imports was 40.6%, while their share of exports was 29.3%. Despite the year-on-year decline in the volume of imports and exports of SMEs, the share of SMEs in total imports and total exports increased. During 2020, SMEs also contributed 53.6% to value added, and 53.1% to profit. Their most significant contribution was in terms of employment, where they represented 74.2% of jobs in the private economy and 59.1% in the whole Slovak economy.
Due to differences regarding the definition of SMEs used in the banking statistics and Tax Authority financial statements database, it is not possible to provide harmonised and comparable data for all indicators of the Scoreboard. Consequently, figures for three scoreboard indicators, Outstanding business loans SMEs; New business lending, SMEs and Non-performing loans, SMEs (see Table 38.4), pertain to SMEs outside the scope of the EU’s SME definition.
The majority of data on SMEs originates from the Tax Authority database, which collects companies’ financial statements. The data from the Tax Authority database is processed according to firm size (as measured by the number of employees in a firm), and annual turnover. As this database excludes loan data for self-employed persons, the figures for the SME sector are considered to be estimates.
The current figures for SME loans were calculated by aggregating sub-totals for legal persons/enterprises from the financial statements database. Data regarding self-employed entrepreneurs are derived from the National Bank statistics (Outstanding business loans, SMEs(1) in Table 38.1). SME data is also available in the banking statistics, but this data does not correspond to the EU SME definition (Outstanding business loans, SMEs(2) in Table 38.1). Once harmonised, SME data available from banking statistics will be used for both, self-employed entrepreneurs and legal persons/enterprises.
The amount of outstanding business loans (Outstanding business loans, SMEs(1) in Table 38.1) has been growing annually since 2013. In a year-on-year comparison, it increased by 6.2% to EUR 16 208 million in 2020. More than half of SMEs’ outstanding business loans were long-term (EUR 9 661 million) representing 59.6% of SMEs’ outstanding business loans. Short-term loans accounted for 40.4% (EUR 6 547 million) of SMEs’ outstanding business loans, which is 1.6 percentage points higher than in 2019.
According to banking statistics data, the amount of outstanding business loans (Outstanding business loans, SMEs(2) in Table 38.1) increased year-on-year by 10.8% to EUR 10 740 million in 2020.
New SME loans increased by 30.6% year-on-year in 2020, while the total amount of new business lending (including large firms) increased by 20.9%. Thus, the share of new SME lending increased by 2.8 percentage points in 2020. The increase in new loans in 2020 was mainly due to the adverse consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, which required a higher need for financing operating activities, as well as persistently favourable credit conditions.
Taking into consideration the use of the banking statistics approach to SME classification, the share of non-performing SME loans among all SME loans in 2020 was higher (4.6%) than the share of total non-performing loans (3.4%).
Compared to 2019, the share of SME non-performing loans increased slightly – by 0.5 percentage points. Despite the increase in the share of non-performing SME loans, the share of non-performing loans for all businesses declined by 0.3 percentage points.
The credit conditions have been favourable in recent years, as evidenced by the growing volume of new SME loans. Interest rates on SME loans fell from 3.8% in 2012 to 2.6% in 2020. The drop in SME interest rates over these years has been making finance available to more SMEs. Interest rates for self-employed entrepreneurs reached 4.5% in 2020, 0.8 percentage points lower than in the previous year. Separate data on interest rates for large enterprises is unavailable. Regardless, rates on large loans are assumed to be a good proxy for rates charged to large companies and to be lower than rates charged to SMEs, given the fact that loans to large corporations are usually significantly larger than loans to SMEs, and that large corporations have more favourable risk profiles than SMEs. In the year-on-year comparison, the interest of SMEs on loan financing increased. In 2020, up to 28 % of SMEs applied for a loan. The rejection rate recorded a positive year-on-year development, falling by four percentage points to 8 %. The increasing interest in credit financing was due to a lack of funding caused by the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and also the persistence of favourable credit conditions.
After 2017’s significant decline in the volume of venture and growth capital caused by the closure of funding support under the JEREMIE initiative for the 2007-2013 programme period, there has been a gradual recovery in the last three years. The amount of venture capital investments increased year-on-year by 23.5%, totalling EUR 37.85 million in 2020. The majority of investments were focused on established SMEs – to expand production capacities, to develop market potential, or further development of product or service.
Lines of credit, bank overdrafts and credit overdrafts are considered the most relevant sources of financing in the first six months of 2020 for 50.5% of Slovak SMEs, according to the EU Survey on access to finance conducted between April and September 2020. Almost half of the surveyed SMEs (49.7 %) used or considered using leasing or hire-purchases as sources of financing. Grants or subsidised bank loans were not a relevant source of finance for 75.8% of Slovak SMEs over the period. Equity capital and factoring have likewise been less relevant for the majority of SMEs (93.6% of SMEs with regards to equity capital and 87.7% of SMEs with regards to factoring). In general, equity capital and factoring are rarely used in Slovakia. The capital market is very small– therefore it is not very attractive for entrepreneurs. In the case of factoring there is a knowledge barrier, many SMEs do not know about factoring and the mechanism of its operation, so it is used only to a very limited extent – especially by more experienced entrepreneurs.
From the point of view of the use of individual forms of financing over the period, 28.8% of Slovak SMEs used lines of credit, bank overdrafts or credit card overdrafts. 14.2% of SMEs used trade credits and 19.9% of SMEs used leasing or hire-purchase. 64.4% of SMEs for which bank loan is not relevant mentioned that they did not need bank loans. Nevertheless, 62.8% of SMEs preferred bank loans as a source of external finance to realise their growth ambitions, followed by loans from other sources (18.8%) and other types of external financing (13.3%). Only 2.3% of SMEs preferred equity investments.
Other sources of financing such as business angel investments, crowdfunding, and trade finance continue to remain marginal in their utility for financing Slovak SMEs.
The payment discipline of enterprises deteriorated year-on-year. The first and second waves of the pandemic in Slovakia, accompanied by a decline in revenues, resulted in a reduction in liquidity, which naturally led to an increase of average business-to-business (B2B) payment delays. Average B2B payment delays increased by 12 days to 14 days in 2020.
Number of SME bankruptcies decreased by 26.6 % year-on-year in 2020 - to 177, the lowest number of bankruptcies in the last decade, but it remains higher than 2008’s pre-crisis bankruptcy levels.
The government has continued to implement several policies that seek to improve SMEs’ access to finance and introduced new instruments to support SME financing during COVID-19. Primarily, these consist of loan and guarantee provisions to SMEs by specialised state banks (The Slovak Guarantee and Development Bank and Eximbank) and the Slovak Business Agency.
In 2020, the implementation of the Central Europe Fund of Funds (CEFoF), which was launched at the end of 2017 and managed by the European Investment Fund (EIF), continued. The size of the fund reached EUR 97 million with a total of 7 investors, including Slovakia. The first recycled JEREMIE resources went to this investment fund. CEFoF has liabilities in the amount of EUR 65.4 million in 8 funds. So far, the funds have invested in 23 companies with the majority of investments located in the Czech Republic. There are also projects for Slovakia in the reservoir that are being worked on. With the last remaining year of the investment period until December 2021, CEFoF funds are almost fully committed.
In connection with the approved material, the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic may allocate funds for investments (provided that the conditions of the financial operation are met) and decide on the mandate for the group of Slovak Investment Holding (SIH) to manage resources invested by public and private investors. As part of its activities, SIH identified new opportunities for providing financing to the Slovak economy and established a subsidiary, Slovak Asset Management a.s. (SAM), which in June 2018 obtained permission from the National Bank of Slovakia to create and manage alternative investment funds. The first fund to be set up under the management of SAM is a specialized venture capital fund called the “Venture to Future Fund – VFF”. The total amount of the fund reached EUR 40.4 million with 4 investors: European Investment Bank (EUR 10 million), from recycled funds JEREMIE (EUR 5 million), Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic (EUR 25 million), and SAM (EUR 0.4 million). The VFF should support around 20 SMEs with innovative technological potential operating in Slovakia or with a connection to Slovakia. In June 2020, SAM managed to officially launch the VFF. Priority activities in 2020 included, in particular, the completion of the fund´s personnel capacities, market monitoring, and the identification of potential investment opportunities.
In the current programme period 2014-2020, Slovak Investment Holding (SIH) manages funds from the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) allocated to financial instruments via the National Development Fund II. (NDF II.). SIH implements financial instruments to support SMEs through financial intermediaries. Within the framework of the Integrated Infrastructure Operational Program (until 2019 it was the OP Research and Innovation), Slovak Investment Holding (SIH) has allocated almost EUR 50 million for direct venture capital investments to support SMEs. Furthermore, through three seed capital support funds, SIH set aside an allocation of EUR 68.1 million to support micro and small enterprises and for the guarantee instrument to support SMEs in the field of research, development, and innovation (implemented through two financial intermediaries) allocation of EUR 49.1 million. Simultaneously with these instruments, support for SMEs was provided during 2020 also through a credit instrument in the amount of EUR 24.1 million and a guarantee instrument in the amount of EUR 12.1 million.
In response to the incipient coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, SIH (as the administrator of NDF II.) prepared the SIH anti-corona guarantee “SIHAZ 1” and the SIH anti-corona guarantee “SIHAZ 2a” Both instruments aim to help SMEs overcome the unfavourable period caused by the coronavirus pandemic in addition to maintaining employment. 8 banks participated in the implementation of the “SIHAZ 1” instrument. 11 banks participated in the implementation of “SIHAZ 2a”. Both instruments consist of guarantees for Slovak banks, which NDF II. assumes part of the credit risk from new credits from banks (in the case of “SIHAZ 1” it is 80 % coverage of individual credits from 50 % of the portfolio, in the case of “SIHAZ 2a” it is 90 % coverage of all new credits). Both financial instruments also contain another component of aid to SMEs in the form of an interest subsidy (up to 4 % p.a. in the case of “SIHAZ 1”) and a guarantee fee waiver (in the case of “SIHAZ 2a”), which are provided to SMEs if they maintain employment and will fulfill its obligations in the area of social and health insurance payments. At the end of 2020, EUR 252.85 million were allocated to support SMEs under the “SIHAZ 1” instrument (of which EUR 202.28 million for aid in the form of guarantees and EUR 50.57 million in the form of an interest subsidy) and EUR 185.15 million under “SIHAZ 2a”. In addition to the above two financial instruments, SIH has also prepared the third financial instrument – SIH anti-corona guarantee “SIHAZ 2b”, which has the same purpose as “SIHAZ 2a”, but is intended not only for SMEs but also for large enterprises. It consists of guarantees for banks by which NDF I. assumes 90 % of credit risk. The financial instrument is financed from the sources of state financial assets. 11 banks participated in the implementation and the total allocation of the financial instrument is EUR 1.75 billion.
In cooperation with the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Alliance for Innovation Economy (SAPIE), the SIH anti-corona capital instrument called “SIHAK” was prepared. The instrument aims to help innovative SMEs that do not have access to credit financing to overcome the unfavourable period caused by a coronavirus pandemic. “SIHAK” is a convertible loan intended primarily for innovative companies, which is financed through venture capital. At the end of 2020, EUR 25.0 million were allocated to support SMEs.
In 2020, SIH provided support to SMEs in the total amount of EUR 639.9 million – of which EUR 602.5 million was provided through the First Loss Portfolio Guarantee instrument, EUR 5.6 million through the Portfolio Risk Sharing Loan, and EUR 31.8 million through venture capital.
The total volume of SME government loan guarantees increased rapidly – from EUR 31.7 million in 2019 to EUR 407.3 million in 2020. This significant increase was caused mainly due to an increase in the volume of SIH guarantees to support SMEs during a pandemic. As a result of the increase in bank guarantees, there was also a significant increase in the volume of guaranteed loans – from EUR 152.5 million in 2019 to EUR 774.4 million in 2020. The volume of SME government direct loans provided by the state banks and the Slovak Business Agency grew less rapidly 20.1% y-o-y growth reaching EUR 245.1 million.
The Slovak Guarantee and Development Bank
In 2020, the Slovak Guarantee and Development Bank (SGDB) continued to support SMEs by providing credits, bank guarantees, deposit products, and electronic banking. In addition to these products, SGDB introduced two new products due to the extraordinary measures taken in the Slovak Republic in connection with the spread of COVID 19 – the “PODNIKATEL 2020” operating credit and “SIH credit”. The “PODNIKATEL 2020” operating credit is used to support the operational needs of SMEs during COVID-19 and can be obtained in the form of a credit guarantee or a credit interest subsidy. The “SIH credit” is intended to increase the liquidity of SMEs with the possibility of obtaining financial support from the Ministry of Transport and Construction as the managing authority for the Integrated Infrastructure Operational Program, and the Ministry of Economy as an intermediary for funds provided from the Integrated Infrastructure Operational Program. The support is provided in the form of a bank guarantee or guarantee fee waiver.
In 2020, 842 direct credits claims amounting to EUR 120.8 million were approved by SGDB. 844 SMEs drew direct credit amounting to EUR 107.7 million. The number of SMEs standing with active credit within SGBD´s portfolio reached 1 591. Altogether, the SGBD portfolio of SME loans provided in 2020 was EUR 301.1 million (excluding amortization).
The SGBD also supports SMEs in the form of venture capital through its subsidiary Slovak Investment Holding and its National Development Fund II. In 2020, it provided funds to 40 SMEs totalling EUR 31.8 million.
The Export-Import Bank of Slovak Republic
The goal of Eximbank, which acts as the state financial intermediary for facilitating exports, is to increase exporting SMEs’ access to direct loans and export guarantees. The bank’s support instruments provide pre-export financing, investment credits, and discount bills. They also aim to enhance the finalisation of export contracts for enterprises with lower financial ratings. In 2020, 26.0% of Eximbank’s product portfolio was composed of financial assistance to SMEs. Support for SMEs grew significantly - by 87.7% in 2020, to EUR 133.9 million. The year-on-year increase was caused not only by an increase in the volume of export and investment credits but also by “COVID credits” to support the operation of enterprises. The bulk of these funds represent export credits (46.0%), followed by investment credits (26.6%), COVID credits (22.4%), and promissory note credits (2.5%). The share of bank guarantees for SMEs was 2.5%, 1.5 percentage points lower than in the previous year.
Slovak Business Agency
Micro-credit programme
Slovak Business Agency finances SMEs through a micro-credit programme. It focuses on micro-enterprises, small enterprises, and start-ups, the most ‘unbankable’ categories of SMEs. Relaunched in 2013 after being suspended in 2010, this scheme provides SMEs with loans ranging between EUR 2 500 and EUR 50 000 to acquire tangible and intangible investment assets, reconstruct operating premises, and acquiring necessary stocks of raw materials and goods. Since the re-launch of the micro-credit programme, the SBA has lent EUR 12.6 million to SMEs. In 2020, 66 SMEs benefited from microcredits, averaging EUR 18 146, and totalling EUR 1.2 million. Compared to 2019, the number of SMEs supported and the total volume of credits provided to SMEs decreased. The average amount of credit received per SME also decreased - by 13.3%.
Risk capital programme
The programme provides equity or quasi-equity investment to start-ups and SMEs wishing to extend their business through development projects or acquisitions by providing venture capital through a specialised subsidiary company – the National Holding Fund. The long-term mission of the fund is to direct activities of the individual funds to stimulate the development of the SME sector in the whole territory of the Slovak Republic, to increase the amount of financial resources of individual funds, and to use profits to implement the long-term goal of supporting SMEs. In 2020, 8 new investments took place amounting to a total investment value of EUR 6.04 million. The total value of realised investments since the start of the programme is EUR 105.7 million, which has been used to support 225 SMEs.
Source: See Table 38.4.
References
[1] European Commission / European Central Bank. SMEs’ Access to Finance Survey - Survey on the access to finance of enterprises 2020. Available at:
<http://ec.europa.eu/growth/access-to-finance/data-surveys_en>
[2] Intrum Justitia. European Payment Report 2020. Available at:
<https://www.intrum.com/publications/european-payment-report/european-payment-report-2020/>
[3] Ministry of Finance. Tax Authority/ Financial Statements (balance sheets) Register. Available at:
<http://www.registeruz.sk/cruz-public/domain/accountingentity/simplesearch>
[4] Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic. Statistical Yearbook 2020. Available at:
<https://web.ac-mssr.sk/wp-content/uploads/2021/Statisticka_rocenka_2020/III.%204.%20Konkurzn%C3%A1%20a%20re%C5%A1trukturaliza%C4%8Dn%C3%A1%20agenda%20(okresn%C3%A9%20s%C3%BAdy).pdf>
[5] National Bank of Slovakia. Monetary and financial statistics. Available at:
<http://www.nbs.sk/sk/statisticke-udaje/financne-institucie/banky/statisticke-udaje-penaznych-financnych-institucii/uvery>
[6] Slovak Business Agency. Annual reports on the state of SMEs in the Slovak Republic. Available at:
<http://monitoringmsp.sk/2021/04/15/analyticke-a-statisticke-vystupy-pravidelne/>