THE DEVELOPMENT of Slovakia's economy this year will be slightly better than predicted a few months ago, according to the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS). The central bank’s latest prognosis sees a 4.8 percent drop in GDP for all of 2009 while in September it was predicting a contraction of 5.6 percent, the SITA newswire reported.
The NBS is also looking more optimistically at growth in the economy for 2010. It revised its September estimate of GDP growth upwards from 2.9 percent to 3.1 percent for next year.
Despite improved expectations, NBS Governor Ivan Šramko believes that recovery in both the global and Slovak economies is fragile and that several uncertainties still prevail. He considers the main risk for Slovakia to be the level of economic progress by its biggest trading partners, SITA reported, adding that the accuracy of the central’s bank’s prognosis will primarily depend on that.
The latest report expects Slovakia’s rate of employment to decline by 2.4 percent this year, by 1.2 percent next year and then the employment rate could increase by 0.5 percent in 2011. The NBS governor also believes that wage development in the public sector will be an important factor next year and that the competitive strength of Slovakia’s economy may deteriorate if it is inappropriate.
