The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reaffirmed positive economic prospects for Slovakia, in its latest report on the country compiled over two weeks of the IMF analysis in the country.
The report concludes that Slovakia’s economic growth is gathering pace and becoming more balanced, with its strong export economy making it “one of the more dynamic” economies in Europe”.
Thanks to rising domestic demand and stable trading partners, the IMF predicts growth of nearly 2½ percent in 2014, rising to 3 percent in the medium term. Rising domestic consumption and investment should keep inflation moderate this year.
Nevertheless, there are also downside risks, like the geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine and the related potential outage in gas supplies, which will also impact trade channels, “where indirect effects might be more significant”, states the report.
Since 2009, the budget deficit has been cut by around 5 percentage points to 2.8 percent of GDP in 2013. The country’s debt remains manageable, but “durable fiscal measures are needed to prevent debt from continuing to rise”.
You can read the full report here