Slovakia - Economy



Slovakia is continuing the difficult transformation from a centrally controlled economy to a market-oriented economy with some measure of success. Sustained GDP growth, although slowed after 1998, has been achieved, and inflation has moderated to single digits. While privatization has been carried out at an uneven pace, macroeconomic performance has improved steadily with 4.8% growth in 1994 and an average annual GDP growth rate of 6.66% 1995 to 1997. In 1998, however, the effects of the Russian financial crisis slowed investment and demand, reducing annual GDP growth to 4.4% in 1998, and to 1.9% in 1999. The pace of growth accelerated slowly from 2000 to 2002, from 2.2% to 3.3% to 4.4%, respectively. Average annual inflation after independence fell from 13.4% to 5.8% in 1996, but then hit double digits again in 2000, at 12%. In 2000 the government implemented austerity measures that helped to bring inflation down to 7.3% in 2001 and 3.1% in 2002. Unemployment remains a serious concern, at 19.8% in 2001 and 17.2% in 2002. The per capita GDP in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms, at $8,300 in 1998, had reached $11,500 (CIA est.) in 2001.

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