Background information

High inflation continues to cause an increase in the cost of energy as a result of the war in Ukraine. This is making it difficult for people to pay their bills.

The government adopted several subsidy measures for businesses and households. Despite the measures, there were still several households that were not provided with any assistance. During its meeting on 26 April 2023, the government addressed the lack of humanitarian aid for people left out of previous measures in Government Regulation No. 155/2023 Coll. (which supplements Regulation of the Government of the Slovak Republic No. 131/2022 Coll.) See also measures Income support for informal caregivers and Subsidy to support humanitarian aid (inflation subsidy) .

Content of measure

The government supported people struggling from the financial implications of the war in Ukraine by providing them with a one-time subsidy of €100. The subsidy is available to people with an average monthly income under 1.81 times the subsistence minimum in the last six months, and who did not receive:

• any of the forms of inflation assistance in 2022
• an extraordinary increase of the benefit, contribution or 13th pension

The multiple of 1.81 of the currently valid amount of the subsistence minimum (as of 1 July 2022) for an individual is €424, which corresponds to the poverty line (after social transfers) for an individual. The estimated number of eligible households is estimated at 50,000. The total cost of this measure is €5 million.

Use of measure

As of 31 August 2023, 815,850 people had received a one-time subsidy as part of all three inflation aid packages. In total, the labor, social affairs and family offices paid out more than €108.8 million at the end of July 2023.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Does not apply to businesses	People on low incomes

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

The proposed measure was discussed at the Government of the Slovak Republic without prior discussion of the proposal with the relevant bodies and institutions in the comment procedure, nor with social partners. This was due to the urgency of the deadline related to extraordinary circumstances due to the crisis situation. However, the social partners agreed in previous negotiations to increase aid also for households and businesses.

Views and reactions

The views of the social partners on this measure were not published, but according to previous statements, the social partners welcomed any measure aimed at supporting the population to overcome the consequences of inflation.

Sources

• 12 April 2022: Government Regulation No. 131/2022 Coll. from 12 April 2022 (Nariadenie vlády SR č. 131/2022 z 12. apríla 2022) (www.slov-lex.sk)
• 01 May 2023: Nariadenie vlády č. 155/2023 Z.z., ktorým sa mení a dopĺňa nariadenie vlády č. 131/2022 Z.z. o niektorých dotáciách (www.slov-lex.sk)
• 31 August 2023: UPSVR: V rámci inflačnej pomoci bolo vyplatených už takmer 109 miliónov eur. (www.upsvr.gov.sk)