Slovakia could see a drop in GDP of 10.3 percent in 2020, according to a forecast published by the Slovak National Bank (NBS). That would mark a one percent worsening of the bank’s predictions for this year, though it is still viewing 2021 positively, predicting growth of 8.4 percent. This would likely be followed by 4.5 percent growth in 2022. “The Slovak economy is currently in free fall, said its governor Peter Kažimír. “It’s as if we were travelling in time and landed in 2017. It’s still valid that there will be a turnaround and we will see growth next year, but all of these processes will be slower than we thought a month ago. We continue to live in a time of enormous uncertainty.” He said that measures taken by the NBS and by the European Central Bank had prevented a more precipitous collapse.
“This crisis, unlike the last one, will fundamentally change global trade and supplier relations and we believe that it will also change the nature of domestic consumption. That’s not good news for a small, export-oriented economy like Slovakia’s.” He said unemployment would likely rise 2.1 percent this year and continue rising, though more slowly, in 2021. In effect, he said, this crisis would destroy as many jobs this year as were created in the last 30 months.
