SLOVAKIA’s foreign trade is expected to begin the year 2014 in the black. After posting surpluses for several months, the country's trade balance in December was at negative €60 million. However, analysts again expect a considerable surplus in the trade balance for the first month of this year, the SITA newswire reported.
The latest survey of the National Bank of Slovakia among commercial bank analysts showed that the trade balance should reach nearly €260 million in January. A year ago, the trade surplus stood at almost €375 million.
The Statistics Office is to publish official data for January on March 11.
“Foreign trade should again return to a positive balance in January,” UniCredit Bank analyst Ľubomír Koršňák said, as quoted by SITA. “We estimate that the tendency of a yearly reduction of surpluses in the foreign trade balance will continue in January.”
Improving external demand should support exports, while imports should rise even faster as a result of recovering local consumption. Moreover, the growth of exports in nominal terms should continue to be moderated by falling export producer prices.
Such development should affect the balance of Slovak trade for the whole of this year. The balance should be positive, but whether it will achieve last year's record highs is questionable.
Slovakia's trade surplus in 2013 reached over €4.4 billion, its highest ever. Poštová Banka analyst Jana Glasova added that this year's balance will likely not be as high as last year's, SITA wrote.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Michaela Terenzani from press reports.
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information
presented in its Flash News postings.
