LJUBLJANA, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Slovenian economic growth slowed in the third quarter (Q3) of 2022, the country's statistical office said on Tuesday. In the second quarter (Q2) of this year, growth was 8.2 percent, compared to 3.4 percent in Q3.
On an annual level, growth in household spending slowed to 2.6 percent year-on-year, versus 12.6 percent in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, growth in investments eased to 6.7 percent, versus 15.9 percent in Q2 this year.
On the positive side, export growth reached 11 percent year-on-year, up from 8.6 percent in the previous quarter, while imports were 10.7 percent higher than a year ago. After five consecutive quarters of imports outpacing exports, the trend reversed. The contribution of the external trade balance to GDP growth was 0.8 percentage points.
"In most economic sectors we detected a slowdown of business activity, while some of them declined," the statistics office said in a report. Sectors that shrank included agriculture and public administration, it said. On the other hand, construction expanded by 10.4 percent year-on-year, compared to 7.7 percent in the previous quarter.
Analysts said the economic slowdown was mainly a result of the global energy crisis, which has prompted the government and households to curb spending.
The European Commission forecast last week that Slovenia will see economic growth of 6.2 percent in the whole of 2022, while growth will ease to 0.8 percent in 2023, mainly due to a global economic slowdown and inflation.
Slovenia is an export-oriented economy, with most of its exports going to other European Union states. Its main exports include cars, car parts, pharmaceutical products and household appliances. ■
