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SLOVAKIA will be the second fastest growing economy of the Eurozone and will contribute to Europe’s overall economic recovery, which according to the recent winter 2014 forecast of the European Commission (EC), “began in the second quarter of 2013 and is expected to continue spreading across countries and gain strength, while at the same time becoming more balanced”.
In the fourth quarter, GDP grew 1.5% over the same period of the previous year according to the preliminary estimate released by the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic (SOSR) on 14 February.
The print, which came in above the 0.9% expansion registered in Q3, marked the largest expansion since Q3 2012. If the results are confirmed, the Slovak economy will have expanded 0.9% in 2013 (2012:+1.8%), thus matching FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast projections.
A quarter-on-quarter comparison confirms the improvement suggested by the annual figures; GDP rose a seasonally-adjusted 0.3% over the previous quarter, which marked a slight increase over the 0.2% expansion in the third quarter.
The National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) projects that GDP will grow 2.3% in 2014 and 3.3% in 2015. FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists expect GDP growth to reach 2.2% this year, which is unchanged from last month’s forecast. For 2015, the panel projects that economic growth will accelerate to 2.7%.
Slovak Spectator, 3rd March 2014