An international workshop of the project APVV-15-0666 “Capital Flight and its Impact on the Slovak Economy” organized by the Department of Macro-Financial Analysis of the Institute of Economic Research SAS was held during 17th-19th November 2019 in the Congress Centre Smolenice SAS. The main goal of the research project was to estimate the magnitude of capital flight from European Union countries with the emphasis on Slovakia, as well as further analyses of the determinants and implications of such capital flight for particular economies. From this perspective, the aim of the workshop was to confront the research project’s results with the scientific community and broader community of experts within the country and abroad, as well as to create a platform for the presentation of the most recent developments in research of related topics.
The workshop started with a welcome speech by the director of the Institute of Economic Research, prof. Ing. Juraj Sipko, PhD. MBA who welcomed participants of the international workshop and members of the research team and emphasized the significance of topics of workshop and the APVV research project. Following prof. Sipko, the head of the APVV project, prof. Menbere Workie Tiruneh expressed his gratitude to invited speakers and guests and summarized both key findings of the project as well as obstacles the project team encountered.
The first plenary session of the workshop was dedicated to the issues associated with banking sector, its current conditions, as well as so called shadow banking, and was chaired by the director of Institute of Economic Research SAS, prof. Ing. Juraj Sipko, PhD., MBA. The session featured presentations delivered by prof. Jarko Fidrmuc, PhD. (Zeppelin University in Germany), assoc. Prof. Peter Haiss, PhD., (Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien a Bank of Austria), and Ing. Martin Hodula, PhD. (Czech National Bank). Employees of the National Bank of Slovakia, Department of Macro-prudential Supervision (Ing. Štefan Rychtárik, PhD. a Ing. Karol Zeleňák, PhD.), also contributed to the discussion by providing the policy maker’s point of view.
Prof. Biswajit Banerjee, PhD. (expert advisor of the Governor of the Slovak National Bank) chaired the second session with the main topic of illicit capital flows and international trade misinvoicing. The session featured presentations by Mgr. Ján Mareš (Institute of Economic Studies of Charles University in Prague) and members of the APVV research project Ing. Mária Širaňová, MA., PhD. and assoc. prof. Daniel Dujava, PhD. (Institute of Financial Policy at the Ministry of Finance). The head of the Department of Balance of Payments of the National Bank of Slovakia, Ing. Ivan Vodička, also contributed to the discussion by providing the policy maker’s point of view.
The final session was dedicated to the implications of current state of the financial system and capital flows for the monetary policy and central bank as well as the private sector, and was chaired by prof. Mikuláš Luptáčik, PhD. (Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien). The session consisted of presentations by Mgr. Martin Šuster, PhD. (Slovak National Bank), prof. Roman Horváth, PhD. (Institute of Economic Studies of Charles University in Prague). The head of the APVV research project prof. Menbere Workie Tiruneh, PhD. presented detailed analysis on the channels and impact of capital flight. All the participants expressed their appreciation about the results of the project and the scientific discussion on how to mitigate the scale of capital flight.
Second working day of the workshop was dedicated to the discussion on the project’s research outcomes and publications in relevant scientific journals as well as planned dissemination of outcomes to broader professional audience.
