Slovakia’s EU economic catch-up is slowing down

The pace at which Slovakia’s economy is catching up with the most economically advanced European countries has slowed down significantly over the past ten years. This according to the latest analysis of the Slovak Finance Ministry’s Institute of Financial Policy (IFP). "While in the period between 2000 and 2010 we approached the European average by 23 percentage points, since 2010 this has dropped to the level of 8 to 10 percentage points,” stated IFP analysts, who added that "without the adoption of structural reforms, there is a risk that the pace of economic catch-up will continue to decline." From the economic point of view the analysis identifies three areas that represent the biggest challenges for Slovakia's economic convergence, namely allocative efficiency (institutions), the labor market, and education. From the point of view of quality of life, housing, health and education are identified as the biggest challenges. Education policies are thus unique in that they are among the priorities from both points of view, namely sustainable economic growth and quality of life.