Slovakia’s economy will be driven mainly by exports and company investments this year, while consumer expenditure should stay low due to the high jobless rate and negative impacts of fiscal consolidation, according to a prognosis presented by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the TASR newswire reported.
The forecast estimates that Slovakia’s GDP will grow by 2.6 percent in 2012, while next year the economy is expected to grow by 3 percent. On the other hand, Slovakia cannot hope to see an improvement in the situation on the labour market since companies are striving for increased productivity in order to remain competitive.
Moreover, the government will try to reduce the budget deficit to below 3 percent of GDP by 2013, which means that it will have to pass austerity measures. The OECD warns that the cabinet will have to proceed with caution when consolidating the public finances in order to maintain the economy’s potential for growth.
The OECD also predicts that the country’s budget deficit will decrease only slightly, to 4.6 percent, this year from the 4.8 percent recorded in 2011, and that it will fall to 2.9 percent in 2013, TASR wrote.
Source: 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.
