Slovakia's exports lost momentum last year

Slovakia's exports lost momentum last year, with the somewhat poorer performance being partly due to the weakening of the currencies of the country's trading partners, the Finance Ministry's Financial Policy Institute (IFP) stated in its latest analysis. As regards drops in exports within the automotive sector, this can be put down to limitations on production due to modernisation and alterations in production lines. The Institute further observed that foreign trade was an important source of economic growth for Slovakia, mainly after the recession. According to the analysis, Slovakia's exports were held back by exchange rates in 2014. Consequently, Slovakia's market shares didn't go up last year. To be more specific, one third of overall exports of goods in 2014 were represented by exports of machinery, equipment and electronic devices, one quarter was generated by exports of vehicles, and another 10 percent by exports of metals and metallic products. Goods from Slovakia head largely to European markets, with firms sending products mainly to Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. As for markets outside Europe, the main trading partners were Russia, the USA and China.