Kalousek wants to raise EGAP's insurance capacity | Prague Monitor

?TK |

4 March 2013

Prague, March 3 (CTK) - Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek will propose to the government on Wednesday to raise the insurance capacity of export guarantee and insurance company EGAP by Kc10bn to Kc280bn, Kalousek said in discussion programme Questions of Vaclav Moravec on Czech TV Sunday.

In this connection, Kalousek will propose a change in the law on the state budget, he added.

EGAP reps with the help of the Industry and Trade Ministry and the Finance Ministry are near signing a project for building steam gas power plant Khormala in Iraq. Czech companies would supply some 70 percent of the total value of the project, which represents some $500m, Kalousek informed.

"Directly it means roughly 2,000 jobs in the Czech Republic," he added.

Reps of EGAP and the Czech Export Bank (CEB) together with Deputy Finance Minister Jan Gregor held talks about the planned cooperations in Iraq last week.

"They returned with a clear agreement on financing," Kalousek said Sunday, adding that the planned contract has not yet been signed.

Finance Ministry spokesman Ondrej Jakob told CTK that signing of a cooperation agreement was expected in the order of weeks, probably already in April.

Even in the austerity state budget for this year, pro-growth spending has been raised by almost Kc17bn to Kc108bn for this year against 2012, Kalousek remarked.

On the other hand, trade union umbrella organisation CMKOS head Jaroslav Zavadil is of the opinion that it is necessary to focus much more on support to active employment policy which is much lower in the Czech Republic than in some other EU countries.

Much more money from European funds needs to be drawn for active employment policy. Also, the number of part-time jobs has to be raised and more attention has to be dedicated to retraining programmes to support businesses and to support to jobs for young people.

EGAP is controlled by four ministries, each of them holding a quarter of its shares. It expects a record figure for last year. According to estimates from the end of last year, it insured exports of Czech goods, services and investments for around Kc84bn in 2012. In the thus-far record year 2010, EGAP insured Czech exports worth over Kc67bn.

Companies use EGAP's insurance in particular for bank loans for exports to risk countries where the probability of not getting paid is higher.

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Source: http://praguemonitor.com/2013/03/04/kalousek-wants-raise-egaps-insurance-capacity

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