Finance ministry revises economic growth estimate up to almost 3%

The Slovak economy will grow in real terms by 2.9 percent this year, says the Finance Ministry's latest forecast published on Tuesday. Analysts at the Finance Ministry's Financial Policy Institute thus revised their previous estimate from September of last year upward by 0.3 percentage points. Their predictions for next year increased slightly as well. "Good news for the Slovak economy is that the recovery continues at a steady pace. Altogether, we are optimistic when looking into the future. This growth stems from robust household consumption, which is the main driving force," stated Finance Minister Peter Kažimír. As he added, positive factors fuelling Slovakia's economic growth are especially energy prices and in particular the significant decline in oil prices. The Ministry, as well as the Central Bank drastically reduced its estimate of consumer prices growth, expecting them to stagnate in 2015. The Minister did not rule out that prices may even go down this year. Gradual acceleration of price growth should continue in 2018, when the Ministry estimates inflation at 2 percent.