Slovenia’s GDP up 16.3% y/y in second quarter

Ljubljana – Slovenia’s GDP increased by 16.3% in year-on-year comparison in the second quarter of the year, the Statistics Office reported on Tuesday. The growth was powered by household spending and gross investment. Foreign trade was up significantly as well.

Gross investment in most fixed assets was up and it was up on average by 19.2% compared to the second quarter of 2020. Up the most (by 43.2%) was investment in machinery and equipment. An increase in inventories also added 3.4 percentage points to the GDP growth.

Household spending was up by 18.8%, and was thus higher than in the second quarter of the pre-coronavirus crisis year 2019. Household expenditure for goods and services was up significantly.

Between April and June, imports were up by 34.9% in annual comparison, and exports by 30.2%. Imports and exports of both goods and services were up, although the latter not as much.

Due to higher growth of imports than exports and less favourable terms of trade, the contribution of the external trade balance to GDP growth was negative (0.3 of a percentage point).

Total employment in the second quarter reached 1,044,000 persons, which is up 14,000 or 1.4% compared to the second quarter of 2020.

The majority of new jobs was created in manufacturing, healthcare and social work, administrative and support services, and construction.

In some branches employment decreased, the most in the hospitality sector, where it had been decreasing since the second quarter of 2020, but in the second quarter of 2021, the decrease was less prominent.

The Statistics Office has also revised its estimate of the decline in gross domestic product (GDP) for 2020. It found that last year’s GDP was EUR 46.92 billion, down 3.1% year-on-year at current prices and 4.2% in real terms.

In the initial estimate in February, the decline of the GDP in 2020 was assessed to be 5.5%.

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