STA, 16 August 2022 - Slovenia's economy grew at an annual rate of 8.2% in the second quarter of the year driven by domestic and foreign demand, according to preliminary figures released by the Statistics Office on Tuesday. The rate is a slowdown from the nominal annual rate of 9.6% in the quarter before as the latest data shows.
Household expenditure was the biggest driver of domestic consumption, as trade in services had the most positive effect on foreign demand.
Domestic consumption increased by 8% with household expenditure going up by 10.6%. Gross fixed capital formation rose by 6.4%. Changes in inventories contributed 1.1 percentage points to GDP growth.
Exports growth outpaced growth in imports as a result of a high increase in exports of services. Total exports went up by 8.7% and imports by 8.5% over the second quarter of 2021.
Exports of services increased by 38.7% as imports of services rose by 22.4%. By contrast, merchandise exports rose at a slower pace than imports of goods like in the previous four quarters.
External trade balance contributed 0.6 percentage points to GDP growth.
Total value added increased by 8.7% compared with the second quarter of 2021. Trade activity grew by 20.8% to have the most positive impact for the third consecutive quarter.
Services continued to grow strong, with the information and communication industry expanding by 13.7% and professional, scientific and technical activities expanding by 12.4%.
Meanwhile, growth in manufacturing had been slowing for the fifth consecutive quarter, but it remained positive, at 2.7% year-on-year in the second quarter.
Total employment in the second quarter increased by 3.4% year-on-year to 1,080,000 persons. Most new jobs were created in construction, manufacturing and professional, scientific and technical activities.
According to data adjusted for season and work days, which is used for comparisons within the EU, Slovenia's economy expanded by 8.3% year-on-year in the second quarter. It grew by 0.9% on the quarter before.
The Statistics Office will present more detailed data at a news conference on Thursday.
