BRATISLAVA, August 2, (WEBNOVINY) — Despite the expected deterioration of the global environment, Slovakia should continue catching up with the economies of EU countries, says the convergence report of the National Bank of Slovakia. Last year the Slovak economy achieved 74.7 percent of the EU average while the price level in Slovakia was at 72.4 percent of the EU median. Slovakia approached European average the most in labor productivity with 80.2 percent.
“The outlook for following years indicates a remarkable worsening of the economic development in 2012 and a subsequent annualized improvement in 2013. Several members of the euro club will see negative growth of GDP. Slovakia however should maintain its positive growth and continue in approaching to the EU average in productivity and efficiency,” suggests the analysis, adding that probably also the price level will partly increase.
These outlooks however do not necessarily have to become reality. The persisting debt problems of the eurozone increase the risk that economic development prognoses will not work. The central bank also points out that in the situation when Slovakia urgently needs to implement structural reforms, it lags behind the reform activity of other countries. “Slovakia’s lagging in reforms has further worsened its position in charts assessing competitiveness and quality of the business environment,” reads the material.
SITA
