From Staff Reports
Higher wages and growing exports powered the Slovakia economy to a second-quarter growth rate of 9.4%, the government’s statistical office reported.
Among the key factors:
- Industrial production rose 15.9%.
- Wages rose 6.7%.
- The number of unemployed workers fell 18.5%.
Bloomberg News reports that newly built plants by automakers PSA Peugeot Citroen and Kia Motors Corp. fueled the $60 billion economy, which plans to adopt the euro as currency in January 2009.Government officials said the GNP growth gives little concern about inflation because productivity is exceeded by wage increases.
“The expansion doesn’t pose a threat for a balanced development of the economy and doesn't fuel inflationary pressure,” Ludmila Bankovicova, chairwoman of the nation’s statistics office, said at a press conference in Bratislava, according to Bloomberg.
In related news, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) released a warning that a neighboring country, the Ukraine, which has averaged 7% GNP growth in the past six years, is in jeopardy of retreating into red. Gas from Russia will increase and the consumer credit boom will slow as household debt increases, the report says. In addition, the high levels of productivity the country is used to are waning.
The OECD report said the Ukraine government must bring down barriers for competition and to build a better legal system to curb corruption and to improve its business climate.