THE REVISED estimates of the Slovak Statistics Office show that Slovakia's real GDP growth reached 9 percent in the first quarter of 2007. The Statistics Office revised its flash estimate upwards by 0.1 percentage point. This means that the Slovak economy grew 2.3 percentage points faster in the first quarter of this year than in the same period of 2006, which in financial terms means a GDP of Sk414.6 billion (€12.4 billion) in the first quarter, up 12.4 percent in current prices.
Regarding consumption, GDP growth was influenced by an acceleration of foreign demand to 24.1 percent, while domestic demand grew by 3.9 percent, which was its slowest growth since 2004. Contributing to the slowdown is the lower formation of gross fixed capital by 0.4 percentage points and the slower growth of the final consumption of public administration by 2.4 points. Final consumption of households grew by 6.5 percent, which was the same as last year.
The acceleration of the GDP formation in the first quarter was driven by the growth of added value in transport, posts and telecommunications, and industrial manufacturing.
In 2006, the Slovak GDP grew by 8.3 percent, while this year the central bank expects 8.9 percent growth.
