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Analysts: Exports and Investments Spurring on Slovak Economy
Friday 12 November 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, November 12 (TASR) - The Slovak economy in the third quarter of 2010 was mainly spurred on by foreign demand and investments, while domestic consumption stood still, most analysts concurred on Friday.
According to a quick estimate released by the Statistics Office earlier on Friday, the Slovak economy grew by 3.7 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of this year. The rate of growth therefore decelerated slightly (by 0.5 percentage points) compared to the second quarter of 2010, when it reached 4.2 percent y-o-y.
"The figures available to date have revealed that the Slovak economy in the third quarter was stimulated by industry, which is benefiting from an unforeseen rapid economic revival in Germany," said ING bank analyst Eduard Hagara.
Postova Banka analyst Eva Sadovska told TASR that in light of developments in retail revenues, which dropped in 3Q10 y-o-y, a boost in consumer demand is unlikely.
The Slovak economy grew by 0.9 percent compared to the second quarter of 2010. "That's quite a decent rise, on a par with those in our primary trading partners such as Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria," said VUB bank analyst Andrej Arady.
"Apart from industry, no other special incentives for growth can be observed in our economy. The number of jobs continues to be lower than a year ago, though to a lesser extent than in previous quarters," added Arady.
UniCredit Bank leading economist Vladimir Zlacky said that exports have played only a minor role in GDP growth, however. "Based on developments in exports while taking into account stagnating domestic consumption and a revival in demand for business loans, we surmise that investment activity has been on the rise. Government consumption also probably encouraged demand in the third quarter," he said, also pointing to a rapid rise in imports.
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