In spite of the economic weakening in the eurozone as a whole, the European Commission has confidence in Slovakia’s economic growth, predicting it will rise by 1.8 percent year-on-year, according to the EC’s latest spring prognosis. If the commission’s expectations are fulfilled, the Slovak economy would post the fastest growth among all eurozone members and the fourth fastest pace among all EU countries, the SITA newswire reported.
The deceleration from last year’s 3.3-percent growth to 1.8 percent this year in Slovakia will primarily be the result of a slowdown in economic activity by Slovakia’s main trade partners.
“With an 80-percent portion of export to the common European market, where economic activity will remain subdued, exports will grow slower than long-term trends suggest,” the prognosis stated, as quoted by SITA.
SITA also wrote that Slovakia’s economic growth will be hampered by weak local demand.
The EC wrote that the economic growth will be accompanied with faster growth of consumer prices. Last fall Brussels’ prognosis was for a harmonized inflation rate of 1.7 percent and it now anticipates 2.9-percent inflation. The inflation prognosis for 2013 was revised downward from 2.1 percent to 1.9 percent.
The EC noted that Slovakia managed to push its public deficit from 7.7 percent of GDP in 2010 to 4.7 percent last year. The Commission is sticking to its earlier estimate of a budget deficit of 4.7 percent of GDP in 2012, the TASR newswire reported.
Due to the lack of clearly visible public policies in Slovakia for 2013, the budget deficit prognosis states there could be a slight increase in the deficit to 4.9 percent in that year. The EC wrote that it expects Slovakia’s public debt to reach 53.5 percent of GDP in 2013.
Source: SITA, TASR
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
