THE SLOVAK economy grew by 3.3 percent year-on-year in the final quarter of 2011, although the pace of growth slowed compared to last year, when final-quarter growth was 4.2 percent, according to data released by Slovakia’s Statistics Office. Compared to the third quarter of 2011, the country’s GDP, net of seasonal influences, grew by 0.9 percentage points, the SITA newswire reported.
František Bernadič, the general director of the office’s Macroeconomic Statistics Section said that GDP growth in the final quarter of 2011 was surprisingly high. “I think all analysts predicted a lower figure,” he stated, as quoted by SITA.
GDP generated in Slovakia during the last three months of 2011 amounted to €17.756 billion. Net taxes contributed the most to bolstering economic activity because the state collected nearly €174 million in value added tax (VAT) from public-private partnership (PPP) projects in Q4 2011.
Exports grew by 7.5 percent while imports dropped by 1 percent. Net exports of cars, electronics, motor fuels and lubricants remained the key sources of Slovakia’s GDP growth, Bernadič reported.
The Statistics Office has predicted that GDP growth in 2012 will fall to 1.1 percent, SITA wrote.
