SLOVAKIA’S GDP in the last quarter of 2009 reached €16.521 billion, down 2.6 percent year-on-year in constant prices but an increase of 2 percent from the third quarter, according to data released by Slovakia’s Statistics Office in early March.
For the entire year of 2009 Slovakia’s GDP was €63.331 billion, 4.7 percent less in constant prices than in 2008.
Economic development in Slovakia was influenced by a drop in demand within the country as well as from abroad. Exports of goods and services fell by 5.2 percent and imports declined by 10.3 percent. Domestic demand for goods and services was 6.2 percent lower in 2009 than in 2008.
According to the Statistics Office, the average monthly salary in the Slovak economy for the last quarter of 2009 was €813.22, up 2.1 percent year-on-year. For all of 2009 the average monthly salary was €744.50 and was 3 percent higher than in 2008.
The drop in economic activity was reflected in a fall off in the employment rate by 5.5 percent year-on-year. There was a significant drop in the number of job vacancies, which stood at 14,000 at the end of the last quarter of 2009, a decline of 34.5 percent from the previous year.
