A deep plunge in production and revenues in the first two months of 2009 was reflected in Slovakia's first quarter GDP falling by 5.4 percent year-on-year, but things are turning around somewhat, according to a report prepared by the Slovak central bank (NBS) made public on May 25, reported the TASR newswire.
“The data for March showed a slowdown in the drop in the industrial production index and construction production, as well as revenues in industry, the retail sector and the sale and maintenance of vehicles,” reads the report, which was approved by the NBS Bank Council.
However, the NBS also cautioned that the Indicator of Economic Sentiment continued to fall in April.
“The year-on-year increase in nominal wages decelerated in March again and quite a considerable fall in the employment rate continued to be the case in selected sectors,” said the NBS.
Slovakia's unemployment rate stood at 10.3 percent in March 2009, breaking the threshold of 10 percent for the first time in 2 ½ years, TASR wrote.
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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