Credit rating agency Fitch has confirmed a long-term assessment of Slovenia’s sovereign debt at “A”, with an outlook stable. Slovenia also has a favorable credit rating with the world’s two two largest credit rating agencies, Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s. According to Fitch in the latest rating, Slovenia’s rating is supported by high indicators of political and institutional efficiency and human development, as well as a credible economic policy supported by EU membership.
The credit rating agency estimates that Slovenia’s gross domestic product (GDP) will decline by 6.9 percent this year. The economic growth forecast for next year was therefore revised by Fitch from the previous 4.9 percent to 4.1 percent. In 2022, Slovenian economic growth is expected to accelerate to 4.8 percent. For the period 2020/21 Fitch predicts an unemployment rate of 5.2 percent, well below the level of the last economic crisis, when it was almost once again higher.
According to the agency’s projections, this year’s general government deficit will rise to 8.8 percent of GDP due to high expenditures to mitigate the effects of the epidemic, but is expected to fall to 6.5 percent of GDP next year and then to 4.1 percent 2022. The situation is also expected to improve with the share of government debt in GDP – from a jump of almost 17 percentage points to 82.1 percent of GDP this year, and is expected to fall to 79.2 percent of GDP by 2022.
