While the economy kept a modest rise in the third quarter of 2022, the Central Bank expects the country to fall into recession at the turn of the year.
The economy grew by 0.3% quarter-on-quarter and by 1.2% year-to-year. Economists consider this a surprise as data from Czechia and Hungary shows their economies contracted quarter-on-quarter.
“The Slovak economy pleasantly surprised in the third quarter,” said Ľubomír Koršňák, Chief Economist at UniCredit Bank in Bratislava. “The flash GDP estimate did not confirm the weak monthly figures for retail trade, industry or selected market services, which consistently showed a mostly downward trend compared to the previous quarter.”
However, a short recession is likely to follow, as indicated by the stagnation in the job market. Despite the economy growing, just 2000 jobs were added to the market corresponding to a 0.1% rise. In comparison, the second quarter of the year rose by 0.5%.
The Central Bank claims this was expected due to the decreasing amount of refugees from Ukraine and possible future economic insecurities.
The negative prospects for the near future are also confirmed by a survey of German companies operating in Slovakia, published by the Slovak-German Chamber of Commerce. Almost 40% of the 74 companies that participated in the survey expect their economic situation to worsen within a year. Just under a fifth predict that it will improve.
(Michal Hudec | EURACTIV.sk)
Source: euractiv.com
