Slovenia’s economy outpaced most predictions by forecasters as it expanded by 5.7% last year, driven by robust consumption and investment spending, the latest statistics show.
Growth was brisk in the first half of the year and was widely expected to slow significantly towards the end of the year, but in the last quarter, it expanded by 0.8% on the quarter before on the back of a 5.9% expansion on investment spending.
The Slovenian central bank said the figures were “an encouraging signal” but warned that this year’s growth rate would be significantly lower.
Most forecasters find that households and businesses have a high level of resilience, which “will contribute to positive economic growth in this year as well,” it said.
The Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development, the government’s economic forecaster, said that last year’s growth exceeded expectations. This, it said, reflected households’ resilience and the effect of energy crisis mitigation measures.
“The government measures to mitigate the COVID-19 crisis in the spring and the cost-of-living crisis in the autumn prevented an even stronger real decline in the average disposable income,” IMAD director Maja Bednaš said.
Source : Euractiv