SLOVAKIA's GDP grew by 2.9 per cent in 2001, according to analysts at the Mesa 10 think tank. They also expect accelerating growth over the next two years, predicting a rate of four per cent in 2002 and 4.4 per cent in 2003. These compare with estimates from the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) of 2.8 to 3.2 per cent growth in 2002 and a Finance Ministry estimate of 3.3 per cent.
The think tank also calculated an inflation rate of 7.3 per cent for 2001, and predicted this would slow in the coming years to six per cent in 2002 and 6.7 per cent in 2003. The decrease in inflation, according to Mesa 10 analysts, should mean an increase in real wages of 3.1 percent in 2002 and an additional 0.1 percent in 2003.
