NBS: Analysts in September Decrease Economic Growth Outlook Slightly to 2.2%

Bratislava, September 27 (TASR) - Growth in the Slovak economy should accelerate to 2.2 percent this year from the 1.6 percent posted last year, according to the latest forecasts by analysts from selected banks, which are published every month by Slovakia's central bank (NBS). The analysts lowered their previous estimate slightly, as in August they expected economic growth to reach 2.3 percent. Meanwhile, they slightly raised their inflation outlook for this year. They forecast the average harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) at 3.1 percent, compared to the 3 percent foreseen in August. This will be a significant drop from the 11 percent recorded last year. The analysts have been expecting core inflation to remain at 2.7 percent for several months. Last year it stood at 9.5 percent. The analysts forecast that the unemployment rate at the end of this year will be 5.5 percent, up from a slightly higher estimate of 5.6 percent in August. It should thus fall from the 5.9 percent seen last year. In the case of nominal salary growth, they forecast a slowdown to 7.7 percent (7.9 percent in August) from 9.4 percent last year. Employment is expected to remain unchanged this year when compared to last year. The forecasts published by NBS represent the average of estimates of individual indicators from analysts of six selected banks operating in Slovakia, including Slovenska sporitelna, VUB, Tatra banka, UniCredit Bank, Ceskoslovenska obchodna banka and 365.bank. The data are updated on a monthly basis. am/df