Slovakia’s foreign trade is expected to begin the year of 2014 in the black. After posting surpluses for several months, the country’s trade balance in December was at negative €60 million. However, analysts again expect a considerable surplus in the trade balance for the first month of this year.
According to the latest survey of the National Bank of Slovakia among commercial bank analysts, the trade balance should reach nearly €260 million in January. A year ago, the trade surplus stood at almost €375 million. The Statistics Office is to publish official data for January on Tuesday, 11 March. “Foreign trade should again return to a positive balance in January. We estimate that the tendency of a yearly reduction of surpluses in the foreign trade balance will continue in January,” said UniCredit Bank analyst Ľubomír Koršňák. Improving external demand should support exports, while imports should rise even faster as a result of recovering local consumption.
