BANK analysts’ GDP growth forecasts for 2011 are more optimistic than they were at the end of 2010. In a regular survey carried out by the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS), the analysts, on average, projected Slovakia’s economic growth in 2011 at 3.6 percent, up slightly by 0.1 percentage point from December's estimates, the SITA newswire reported.
The bank analysts also revised their anticipated inflation rates modestly upward for 2011, forecasting an inflation rate, as measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices, of 3.7 percent. In the last month of 2010, the analysts had projected an inflation rate for 2011 of 3.6 percent.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) also increased its estimate of Slovakia’s GDP growth for 2011. Based on the latest release from EBRD, the bank expects the Slovak economy to grow by 3.7 percent in 2011 compared to the growth rate of 3.5 percent it predicted last October.
The prognoses offered by the banks and the EBRD are more optimistic than the most recent estimates made by Slovakia’s central bank and the Finance Ministry. The latest official forecast published by the central bank in December 2010 projected 3-percent growth in GDP for 2011. In its prognosis made in September 2010, the Finance Ministry said Slovakia's GDP growth for 2011 would be 3.3 percent, SITA wrote.
