BRATISLAVA, March 15, (WEBNOVINY) — Over the past decade, the Slovak economy posted above-average growth of 4.9 percent every year, which is the fasted growth in the European Union. As representatives of UniCredit Bank informed at Thursday’s news conference, the main driving force of the Slovak economic growth in the past decade was in particular the automobile and electrotechnical industry.
“A lot of people are dissatisfied that we are one-sidedly focused on the automotive industry, however, without it the situation here would be much worse,” said head of UniCredit Bank’s corporate and investment banking department Miroslav Strokendl. He went on to say that carmakers are doing well despite difficult times, maintaining growth as well as employment. The bank’s analysts attribute economic growth to significant increase in labor productivity. Strokendl added that labor productivity measured by purchase power parity in Slovakia is highest among all central and eastern European countries.
The construction industry, trade and energy sector considerably boosted economic growth in the past decade, too. “On the contrary, services in the sectors of transportation and storage, hotels and restaurants declined,” said Strokendl, who sees wide reserves in services, above all in tourism. He added this area has great potential of employment growth, too.
Approximately thirty-three percent of Slovaks work in businesses owned by foreign investors. For comparison, in Hungary it is 24 percent and in Germany 12 percent. “Positive information is that the portion of industries with higher added value has been increasing,” Strokendl said, adding that high-tech sectors, which include pharmaceutical production and TV sets production in Slovakia, grew from 3.9 percent in 2000 to 9.6 percent in 2010.
SITA
