Stats Office: Slovakia's GDP Down by 5.2 percent Y-o-Y in 1Q20

Bratislava, June 5 (TASR) – Slovakia’s GDP output posted a fall of 3.7 percent year-on-year in fixed prices in the first quarter of 2020 – the first drop after ten years of continuous growth, the Statistics Office reported on Friday.

After seasonal adjustments, GDP in 1Q20 fell by 5.2 percent quarter-on-quarter.

Some of Slovakia’s key sectors reported a slowdown as early as in the first two months of the year, with the announcement of the ‘state of alert’ related to coronavirus in March weakening the country’s economy even further.

When it comes to figures in current prices, Slovakia’s GDP in 1Q20 fell by 0.8 percent y-o-y to €21.5 billion.

Added value dropped by 3.5 percent y-o-y in 1Q20. The key sector of industry dropped in performance by 3.5 percent y-o-y, while services, particularly financial and insurance activities, slumped by as much as 42.1 percent. Construction was down by 25.2 percent; the arts, entertainment and recreation and other activities by 6.8 percent; while expert, scientific and technical activities decreased by 5.7 percent.

Added value was up in the public sector, education, health care and social care – by 5.5 percent; in IT and communications activities – 5.3 percent; and in agriculture – 1.8 percent.
The amount net product taxes collected was down for the first time since 2016 – by 4.8 percent y-o-y.