The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) projects some positive growth for Slovakia this year and next in its latest Economic Outlook report, hiking up the country’s GDP growth projection by an additional 0.1% for 2014, with the outlook for 2015 also positive.
The new estimate for 2014 is set at 2%, while for 2015 the figure should soar to 2.9%, with the OECD report attributing the growth chiefly to strengthening export markets and a slowdown in fiscal consolidation. Investment is projected to ‘progressively pick up’ and unemployment is projected to drop from the 13.9% estimate for this year to 13.2% in 2015, pushing up also household consumption for the first time in years.
With a revival projected in the euro zone overall, rising exports are also expected to spur on Slovakia’s growth. Headline inflation for 2014 is projected at 0.4%, with a figure of 1.0% forecast for 2015.
Slovakia’s public debt is projected to reach 55.2% of GDP in 2014 and 56.2% in 2015.