LJUBLJANA, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Slovenia's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by an annual pace of 2.1 percent in the first quarter (Q1) of this year with help from higher domestic expenditure, according to official data released on Wednesday.
Domestic expenditure, which includes household and state spending, grew at its highest level in the past year and a half. That figure was partly buoyed up by more government spending on reconstruction after record floods in August 2023.
"Relatively favorable developments in the first quarter and improved sentiment in the economy at the start of the second quarter are enhancing expectations for economic growth this year," the Bank of Slovenia said in a statement following the GDP data release.
The central bank also indicated that Slovenia's economic growth was well above the eurozone average growth of 0.4 percent.
Slovenia is an export-oriented country, but its exports to the other members of the European Union fell over the past year in part because of the bloc's economic slowdown. ■