In the second quarter of 2014 the Slovak economy was the slowest-growing in the Višegrad Four, a group it shares with the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. While Slovakia's GDP increased by 2.5 percent year-on-year, the Czech Republic's was up by 2.6 percent, Poland's by 3.2 percent and Hungary's by 3.7 percent.
“Slovakia hasn't been recording rapid economic growth, but the pace of growth can be described as stable. Investment in infrastructure in an election year and relatively strong demand for cars has pushed Hungary's fastest-growing economy in the entire EU,” said Grzegorz Sialewicz chief analyst for Central and Eastern Europe for Coface, a credit insurance company. According to Poštová Banka analyst Jana Glasova, Slovakia's growth in the second quarter was mainly due to the consumption of Slovak households and foreign trade. Poštová Banka estimates that Slovakia's GDP in 2014 may increase by 2.3 percent. Analysts agree that Poland will be the most affected by the Russian embargo which may result in a decrease in Polish GDP growth by 0.2-0.3 percentage points. The effect of the sanctions should be relatively negligible for Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
