Economy of Slovakia
Headquarters of Slovakia's central bank in Bratislava
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|
| Currency | Euro (EUR) |
|---|---|
| Calendar year | |
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Trade organisations
|
WTO, EU, OECD, NATO |
| Statistics | |
| GDP |
 $159.6 billion (PPP,2016 est.) |
| GDP rank | 64th (PPP, 2012 est.) |
|
GDP growth
|
2.4% (2014 est.) |
|
GDP per capita
|
$30,300 (PPP, 2015 est.) |
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GDP by sector
|
agriculture: 3.8%; industry: 36.4%; services: 59.8% (2012 est.) |
 3.6% (CPI, 2012 est.) |
|
|
Population below poverty line
|
1.9% (2009) |
| 26.1 (2012) | |
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Labour force
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2.724 million (2012 est.) |
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Labour force by occupation
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agriculture: 3.5%; industry: 27.0%; services: 69.4% (December 2009) |
| Unemployment |
9.9% (2016 est.) |
|
Main industries
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metal and metal products; food and beverages; electricity, gas, coke, oil, nuclear fuel; chemicals and manmade fibers; machinery; paper and printing; earthenware and ceramics; transport vehicles; textiles; electrical and optical apparatus; rubber products |
 33rd (2017) |
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| External | |
| Exports |
$77.82 billion (2012) |
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Export goods
|
machinery and electrical equipment 35.9%, vehicles 21.0%, base metals 11.3%, chemicals and minerals 8.1%, plastics 4.9% (2009) |
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Main export partners
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 Germany 22.7% Czech Republic 12.5% Poland 8.5% Austria 5.7% Hungary 5.7% France 5.6% United Kingdom 5.5% Italy 4.5% (2015) |
| Imports |
$74.29 billion (2012 est.) |
|
Import goods
|
machinery and transport equipment 31%, mineral products 13%, vehicles 12%, base metals 9%, chemicals 8%, plastics 6% (2009 est.) |
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Main import partners
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Germany 19.4% Czech Republic 17.4% Austria 9.1% Hungary 6.3% Poland 6.3% South Korea 5.5% Russia 5.2% China 4.1%(2015) |
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FDI stock
|
$53.09 billion (31 December 2012 est.) |
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Gross external debt
|
 $72.94 billion (30 November 2011 est.) |
| Public finances | |
|
48.6% of GDP (2012 est.) |
|
| Revenues |
$31.39 billion (2012 est.) |
| Expenses |
$35.85 billion (2012 est.) |
| Economic aid | $235 million in available EU structural adjustment and cohesion funds (2004) |
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|
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Foreign reserves
|
US$2.676 billion (31 December 2012) |
Since GDP grew strongly from 2000 until 2008 – reporting 10.4% growth in 2007 – the Slovak economy was referred to as the Tatra Tiger.
Slovakia became an EU member state in 2004 and adopted the euro at the beginning of 2009. Its capital, Bratislava, is the largest financial centre in Slovakia. As of March 2016[update], the unemployment rate was 10.2%.
Since the establishment of the Slovak Republic in January 1993, Slovakia has undergone a transition from a centrally planned economy to a free market economy, a process which some observers were to believe was slowed in the 1994–98 period due to the crony capitalism and other fiscal policies of Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar's government. While economic growth and other fundamentals improved steadily during Mečiar's term, public and private debt and trade deficits also rose, and privatization was uneven. Real annual GDP growth peaked at 6.5% in 1995 but declined to 1.3% in 1999.
Two governments of the "liberal-conservative" Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda (1998–2006) pursued policies of macroeconomic stabilization and market-oriented structural reforms. Nearly the entire economy has now been privatized, and foreign investment has picked up. Economic growth exceeded expectations in the early 2000s, despite recession in key export markets. In 2001 policies of macroeconomic stabilization and structural reform led to spiraling unemployment. Unemployment peaked at 19.2% [2] (Eurostat regional indicators) in 2001 and though it has fallen to (depending on the methodology) 9.8%( or 13.5% as of September 2006, it remains a problem. Solid domestic demand boosted economic growth to 4.1% in 2002. Strong export growth, in turn, pushed economic growth to a still-strong 4.2% in 2003 and 5.4% in 2004, despite a downturn in household consumption. Multiple reasons entailed a GDP growth of 6% in 2005. Headline consumer price inflation dropped from 26% in 1993 to an average rate of 7.5% in 2004, though this was boosted by hikes in subsidized utilities prices ahead of Slovakia's accession to the European Union. In July 2005, the inflation rate dropped to 2.0% and is projected at less than 3% in 2005 and 2.5% in 2006. In 2006, Slovakia reached the highest economic growth (8.9%) among the members of OECD and the third highest in the EU (just behind Estonia and Latvia). The country has had difficulties addressing regional imbalances in wealth and employment. GDP per capita ranges from 178% of EU average in Bratislava to only 49% in Eastern Slovakia.
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