SLOVAKIA’s economy in the second quarter of 2013 posted 0.9 percent growth on an annual basis, thus keeping the country out of recession. However, the growth is still too feeble to support the creation of new jobs, as indicated by the 1.3 percent drop in employment when compared to the second quarter last year, according to the flash estimate of the Slovak Statistics Office released on August 14.
In the first quarter of this year, the economy grew by 0.6 percent, the statistics authority said.
The modest second quarter growth numbers nonetheless surpassed forecasts by market watchers with commercial banks, who had predicted 0.7 percent growth. According to the July survey of Slovakia’s central bank, they forecast 0.8 percent growth for the year, the SITA newswire wrote. They also said that if positive trends continue here and in other Euro area countries, the second wave of recession in the eurozone could end.
At current prices, total GDP in the second quarter reached €18.242 billion, 2.4 percent up compared to the same period last year, the Statistics Office informed.
The statisticians also reported that nearly 2.19 million people were employed in the second quarter of the year. Without seasonal influences, the total employment dropped compared to the same quarter of 2012 by 1.2 percent and compared to the first quarter of this year by 0.4 percent.
Detailed GDP results will be available on September 4.
