Development of Small Business Sector in Slovakia in 1993-2006

The main focus of the article is to elaborate on the importance and role of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Slovak economy. The authors show the development tendencies of the SME sector in Slovakia in the years of 1993-2006. Where it was possible the authors enumerated the data for the year 2007. The paper analyses the state of the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises, seeking to understand the causes of its relative strength and weakness. The share of the SME sector in all the registered enterprises in Slovakia is convergent with the whole EU average and it amounts to 99.8%. In Slovakia the share of microenterprises amounts to 79.3% which is the lowest feature in the EU. It means that the situation in Slovakia seems to be better for the economy, as the microenterprises do not have significant impact on the national employment and the GDP. In Slovakia the share of SMEs in total employment is crucial and amounts to 61.2%. A present-day share of the SME sector in both export and import volumes is more than 1/3 of the total volume of foreign trade of Slovakia.