Analysts view GDP growth in third quarter as disappointing

The year-on-year growth in GDP amounting to 1.3 percent and quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.4 percent recorded for the third quarter of this year was a disappointment, stated bank analysts when commenting on the figures, which were released by the Statistics Office earlier on Friday. "The country posted one of the slowest rates of GDP growth in the EU," said UniCredit Bank analyst Ľubomír Koršňák. According to Eurostat's preliminary estimate, the EU's economy grew by 2.1 percent on average in the third quarter and the eurozone's economy by 2.2 percent. “Only Bulgaria posted slower y-o-y growth in GDP than Slovakia,” added Koršňák. Meanwhile, Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger read in the latest statistical data that the Slovak economy is thriving despite the pandemic and the low vaccination rate. On Friday, he stated that the performance of the economy, the unemployment rate and the average wage looked good; moreover, the performance of the Slovak economy in the third quarter was close to the period before the pandemic. Heger especially sees positive developments in the unemployment rate, which stands at 6.8%.