BRATISLAVA, June 6, (WEBNOVINY) — The Slovak economy grew by 3 percent in the first quarter of this year. The Statistics Office reported the result on Wednesday, which thus slightly by 0.1 percentage points revised downward its flash estimate of GDP growth reported last month. Nevertheless, the Slovak economy maintained a sound momentum from last year, when its growth for the full year was 3.3 percent. In a quarterly comparison, after seasonal adjustment, the real gross domestic product grew by 0.7 percent.
At current prices, gross domestic product in the first quarter of this year rose by 4.4 percent. In financial terms, the volume of gross domestic product in the first quarter reached 16.556 billion euros. Compared to the first quarter of last year, however, the dynamics of GDP growth slipped by 0.4 percentage points. According to the Statistics Office, this can be particularly attributed to a notable slowdown in external demand.
The growth figures for the first quarter were a surprise for bank analysts already after the flash estimate was published. They estimated in March that the economy in the first quarter will only grow by 1.5 percent. After a series of positive data, they updated their forecasts to 1.8 percent, but the actual outcome was significantly better. The data for the first quarter forced banks to increase their growth forecasts for the entire year to nearly 2 percent.
The European Commission predicts similar growth of the Slovak economy. In May it revised its estimate to 1.8 percent. This would mean that the Slovak economy this year would grow the fastest among the euro area countries. The Slovak Finance Ministry currently expects growth this year at 2.3 percent and the central bank at 2.1 percent.
SITA
