斯洛伐克共和国：选定问题

SLOVAK REPUBLIC SELECTED ISSUES March 2026 This paperonSlovak Republicwas prepared by a staff team of the InternationalMonetary Fund as background documentation for the periodic consultation with the Copies of this report are available to the public from International Monetary Fund•Publication ServicesPO Box 92780•Washington, D.C. 20090Telephone: (202) 623-7430•Fax: (202) 623-7201E-mail:publications@imf.org Web:http://www.imf.org International Monetary Fund SLOVAK REPUBLIC SELECTED ISSUES March 3, 2026 Prepared By Leonardo Indraccolo (EUR) and Yen Mooi (EUR) Approved ByEuropean Department CONTENTS EFFICIENT PUBLIC SPENDING: PATHWAYS FOR FISCAL SUSTAINABILITY _________2A. Introduction: Enhancing Spending Efficiency Amid Fiscal Pressures___________________2 B. Unpacking Public Expenditure: The Role of Social Protection Spending_______________4C. Spending Efficiency Gaps _____________________________________________________________8D. Pro-Growth Public Spending________________________________________________________10 BOX 1.Recent Reforms to the Pension System and Family Benefits __________________________7 FIGURES 1.Slovakia’s Deteriorating Fiscal Position ________________________________________________32. Labor and Capital Income Taxes ______________________________________________________33.Evolution of Public Expenditure _______________________________________________________44. Composition of Social Protection Spending ___________________________________________65. Spending Efficiency in Slovakia and Visegrád Countries Over Time ___________________96. Allocation of Public Spending _______________________________________________________127. Public Wage and Employment Dynamics____________________________________________ 13 References_____________________________________________________________________________17 EFFICIENT PUBLIC SPENDING: PATHWAYS FOR FISCAL Slovakia’s fiscal position has weakened considerably over the past 15 years, with public debt andexpenditure rising faster than in peer countries. Given limited scope for additional revenue-basedconsolidation, policy efforts will increasingly need to focus on the expenditure side. This paperbenchmarks the level, efficiency and allocation of public spending in Slovakia relative to peer countriesto identify reform areas that can generate savings and strengthen the country’s fiscal position. Most ofSlovakia’s recent increase in public expenditure is mainly due to rising spending on social protection, A.Introduction: Enhancing Spending Efficiency Amid Fiscal Pressures 1.Slovakia’s fiscal trajectory is deteriorating rapidly, marked by persistent fiscal deficitsand rising public debt.Since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), public debt has increased much more rapidly in Slovakia than in the average EU orneighboring country, gradually eroding a fiscal positionwhich used to be strong relative to peers.2For instance,in contrast to peer Visegrád countries—where debt asa share of GDP increased by 0.5 percentage pointssince 2010 on average—Slovakia experienced a notable (Figure 1). A deteriorating fiscal position can increase the risk of sovereign distress, restrain thegovernment’s ability to respond to future economic shocks and crowd out growth-enhancing and restore fiscal buffers is a key priority for the authorities. 2.With limited scope for additional revenue-based consolidation, the focus will need toshift towards improving the efficiency and composition of public spending. Slovakia’s fiscalchallenges call for a comprehensive policy response, including fiscal consolidation measures andstructural reforms to boost economic growth. On the consolidation front, several revenue-raising 3.This paper compares the level, allocation and efficiency of Slovakia’s public spendingto peer countries to identify areas for reform. The analysis begins by unpacking publicexpenditure to uncover how the composition of public spending has changed over time and whichspending categories have grown the most compared to peer countries. Next, the paper turns to ananalysis oftechnicalandallocativeefficiency of public spending. Technical efficiency captures the B.Unpacking Public Expenditure: The Role of Social Protection Spending This section examines which spending categories have contributed to the rapid increase in publicexpenditure since the GFC and compares current levels of spending to peer countries. Given theprominent role of social protection spending, the analysis then zooms into how pension and family 4.Social protection spending explains more than half of the overall rise in public expenditure since the GFC.Aggregate public expenditure across Visegrád and EU countries can bedecomposed into common spending categories following the COFOG classification. Among these,social protection is the largest spending item in all Visegrád countries, but it is particularlyprominent in Slovakia, where it accounts for 37 percent of total expenditure. Slovakia’s