FINANCIAL AUTONOMY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC BY REGIONS

The aim of this paper was to evaluate the financial autonomy of local governments in the Slovak Republic by NUTS III regions from 2002 to 2012. Intention was to reveal regions where local governments are long term the least financially autonomous and identify possible causes of this condition. Below-average figures of the financial autonomy reached local governments in the Presov region, Kosice region and also below-average values showed local governments in the Banska Bystrica region. These regions are characterized by a high unemployment rate compared to the other regions of Slovakia. The paper quantifies the dependency ratios between the financial autonomy of local governments in NUTS III regions and GDP per capita and unemployment rates in NUTS III regions. Based on partial results of analysis can be deduced that the increase of GDP per capita and reduction of unemployment rate at mentioned NUTS III regions in the Slovak Republic could help to increase the level of financial autonomy of local governments.