Located in the southern part of Central Slovakia, the region comprises 13 districts and owes its rich industrial origins to the mining of precious ores like copper and silver dating back to the 13th century. Like most of the other regions of Slovakia, the qualities of the area are not only restricted to manufacturing and mining. The plethora of mineral wells and geothermal springs represent a very significant opportunity for further investment in tourism and other economic changes have manifested themselves in the capital city becoming a major financial services centre.

The city of Banska Bystrica, with a population of 113,000 is 270 km from Vienna and 220 km from Budapest. The regional capital has its own airport, which has further development potential for civilian traffic and benefits from excellent road and rail links.

With almost 20,000 employees, the metallurgy sector forms the production core followed by the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors. The University of Matej Bel, combined with the Technical University in Zvolen and numerous research institutes helps provide the skills to support the growth of these and other information technology related industries in the future.

For foreign investors engaged in the production of aluminium parts, especially within the automotive components sectors, they should take a particularly close look at the region’s benefits on offer, in terms of the ability to source locally and make significant cost savings.

The joint stock company Slovalco was founded in 1993 jointly by Zavod SNP in Ziar nad Hronom (80 %), the EBRD (10 %) and the Norwegian company Hydroaluminium (10 %). The registered capital was USD 150.013 million. Specialising in the production of aluminium and related products it exports around 85% of output which underlines the region’s accessibility to export markets.

General Introduction

Slovakia boasts eight well developed regions and in terms of population, they are finely balanced, as the table below illustrates

Regions of Slovakia and Population - Total Population of Country - 5.4 million

Unlike the neighbouring countries with which Slovakia competes for foreign direct investment, manufacturing and the established infrastructure to underpin the activities, is not concentrated in a few territories. Rather, Slovakia has a well balanced manufacturing base with an even distribution of production activity across the eight regions as outlined below.

Regions of Slovakia - Workforce engaged in Manufacturing