Slovakia’s economy should rise by 3.2 percent this year

According to the latest mid-term prediction of the Slovak central bank (NBS), Slovakia's economy should rise by 3.2 percent this year, by 3.3 percent next year and by 4.2 percent in 2018, reported the TASR news agency on Tuesday. Investments in the public sector increased significantly in the fourth quarter of 2015. "We can thus expect the investments to decrease in the beginning of this year. Strong domestic demand was supplemented by increased exports, mainly in the automobile industry. These developments should gradually mitigate", stated NBS governor Jozef Makúch at a press conference in Bratislava on Tuesday, adding that it's all related to the deceleration of developing economies, mainly that of China. A large portion of the predicted boost is due to the growth of foreign demand, record low interest rates and forecast investments. The bank believes gross domestic product should go up by 4.2 percent in 2018 due to predicted rises in exports.