Slovakia achieved the highest economic growth in the eurozone in the third quarter of 2013 on 0.7 percent of GDP year-on-year, the European Union’s statistics office Eurostat announced December 4.
“Slovakia’s economic growth [in 3Q13] was 0.2 percent [of GDP] quarter-on-quarter which was the fifth-highest figure in the eurozone," according to a statement from Slovakia’s Finance Ministry. A detailed estimate of the Slovak Statistics Office (ŠÚ) released earlier in the day said that Slovakia’s GDP growth in the third quarter was close to figures from previous quarters.
“The main factor behind the positive development of economic activities overall was the contribution of net exports,” said the Finance Ministry, as quoted by the TASR newswire. “This is a result of ongoing growth in exports and a simultaneous decline in imports.”
However, the country's GDP growth in fixed prices went down slightly by 1 percentage point year-on-year to 0.9 percent, standing at 1.1 percent y-o-y in current prices, the ŠÚ announced. When seasonal influences are taken into account, the volume of GDP in the third quarter of the year increased by 0.2 percent q-o-q. Slovak GDP totalled €18.996 billion.
Trends in July and September were saw growth in foreign trade and reductions in domestic demand. Exports of goods and services went up by 1.9 percent, while imports were down 0.4 percent. A drop in domestic demand of 1.2 percent was caused by a fall in the gross capital formation marker of 6.4 percent, with gross fixed capital formation shrinking by 9.8 percent. A decrease was also recorded in the end consumption of non-profit institutions serving households - 1 percent. The end consumption of the public administration sector grew by 2.8 percent, while end consumption of households rose by 0.1 percent.
(Source: TASR)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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