Slovak government says its reforms help poor people - press.

(From Czech News Agency)

BRATISLAVA, June 1 (CTK) - The social reforms being implemented by the Slovak right-wing coalition government have provoked sharp disputes, but the government dismisses any criticism, pointing out that its reforms also help the poor, Czech financial daily Hospodarske noviny writes today.

A government report on the social situation, which was discussed by the Slovak cabinet on Tuesday, says that the reforms have contributed to lowering unemployment and the sickness rate and have increased the number of businesses in the country. However, non-governmental organisations and some experts are convinced that this is not so.

According to their analyses, there is no interest in some government measures aimed at supporting employment and the situation of hundreds of thousands of Slovak Romanies, who have been most severely hit by the cuts in social security benefits, has considerably worsened.

Although unemployment in Slovakia has slightly decreased there are disputes over how high it is at present. While the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry talks about a 12-percent unemployment rate since it only includes people registered with employment offices in its statistics, the Slovak Statistical office figures show that 18 percent of Slovaks are jobless.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) described the development of unemployment in Slovakia as a disappointment and stated that it did not expect employment to lower considerably in the next few years.

However, according to Slovak politicians, the positive impact of the social reforms is only to be seen on the labour market since at present it is afflicted by the recent lay-offs in the education and health care areas.