STA, 12 February 2021 - The second wave of the pandemic in Slovenia has not had an impact on the country's export companies and its construction sector, IMAD, the government's macroeconomic think tank, said on Friday. It has, however, hit retail and some other services quite severely.
Revenue has dropped significantly since the second half of October, with the hospitality sector suffering the most, seeing its revenue drop by more than a half, IMAD said in the most recent issue of its regular publication.
The households' spending on personal services, entertainment, sports and other services has also decreased, owing to their inaccessibility.
The sales of motor vehicles and in retail dropped considerably, with the latter being dragged down above all by poor sales of clothing and footwear, furniture and household equipment.
But on the other hand, export-oriented companies and the construction sector have not been impacted significantly by the second wave.
Exports to EU countries, which account for about three fourths of Slovenia's total exports, as well as manufacturing, recovered to pre-crisis levels in the course of the final quarter of 2020, IMAD said.
The construction sector also saw a significant improvement, owing to an increase in the construction of residential buildings.
Moreover, confidence indicators suggest the continuation of advantageous trends in the beginning of this year. This is also supported by data on energy use and road traffic, both of which are only slightly lower than in January 2020.
