Analysts: Economy Growth to Accelerate to 1.9 percent This Year

Bratislava, April 25 (TASR) - Growth in the Slovak economy should accelerate to 1.9 percent this year from the 1.1 percent recorded last year, according to the latest forecasts by analysts from selected banks that are published every month by Slovakia's central bank (NBS), a slight improvement on their estimate in March when they expected economic growth to reach 1.8 percent. The inflation outlook for this year is also better. Analysts are currently forecasting that the average harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) will stand at 3.1 percent, an improvement on the 3.3 percent predicted in March. They expect the same for core inflation, which is expected to fall from 9.5 percent last year to 3.2 percent this year. The analysts expect the unemployment rate in Slovakia to end the year at 5.7 percent, the same level predicted in March. It should thus drop moderately from last year's 5.9 percent. They also forecast a slowdown in nominal salary growth, from 9.4 percent last year to 7.5 percent this year. Employment is expected to remain unchanged this year when compared to last year. The forecasts published by NBS represent the average of estimates of individual indicators of analysts from six selected banks operating in Slovakia - Slovenska sporitelna, Vseobecna uverova banka, Tatra banka, UniCredit Bank, Ceskoslovenska obchodna banka and 365.bank. Data are updated on a monthly basis. am/df