Analyst: Foreign Trade Balance Surplus Narrowed Further, No Turnaround Expected

Bratislava, November 8 (TASR) - The narrowing of Slovakia's foreign-trade surpluses continued in September, with exports brought down mainly by the category of machinery and cars, while imports, conversely, continued to rise, mainly due to continued growth in imports of fuels and lubricants, said UniCredit Bank analyst Lubomir Korsnak in reaction to preliminary data on Slovakia's foreign-trade balance in September released by the Statistics Office on Friday. The analyst noted that no more fundamental turnaround is expected in the next few months and that foreign-trade balance surpluses will continue to thin out slowly. "The twelve-month cumulative foreign-trade surplus continued to moderate from 3.4 percent of GDP to 3.2 percent of GDP. It is still the case that it recorded its peak in this cycle back in February at 4.9 percent of GDP," added Korsnak. The analyst pointed out that the volume of exports increased by 0.6 percent when compared to August after taking into account seasonal and calendar fluctuations, but, according to him, losses from the beginning of the summer weren't fully recovered. In yearly terms, the decline eased from minus 4.8 percent to minus 0.7 percent. According to Korsnak, overall exports still struggled with the weak condition of exports of machinery and cars. "Exports in this category did not recover in September, despite relatively strong growth in automotive output. The momentum of their year-on-year decline at least moderated from minus 8.3 percent to minus 6.3 percent," he remarked. According to Korsnak, the recovery in external demand is only gradual, and weak external demand is particularly troublesome for machinery producers. In his opinion, there won't be a more substantial turning point in the next few months. zel/df