Slovakia’s foreign trade surplus narrowed by 11.2% on the month to EUR 483.1mn in October 2013, preliminary data from the statistics office showed. Compared to the same month of 2012, the October trade surplus shrank by 14.9%. The office revised September surplus down to EUR 544.2mn from EUR 545.7mn.
Exports, which have been the sole driving force of the Slovak economic growth last year, rose by 0.1% y/y, following a revised 4.8% annual increase in September. Imports in October went up by 1.6% y/y after rising by a revised 0.9% y/y in September. On a monthly basis, October’s exports rose 4.0% and imports were higher by 5.6%.
For the first ten months of the year, exports increased by 2.9% y/y to EUR 53.5bn, while imports rose 0.8% y/y to EUR 49.2bn, resulting in a foreign trade surplus of EUR 4.29bn, higher by 35.8% compared to the same period last year.
IntelliNews comment: Although Slovakia‘s exports increased in the past two months, the rise was much weaker compared to 2012-levels due to subdued foreign demand which in result will dampen the country's export-driven economic growth to below 1% this year from 2% in 2012.
| EUR mn | Oct-13 | Sep-13 | Oct-12 | 2012 |
| Imports | 5,592.9 | 5,296.0 | 5,502.9 | 58,588.4 |
| Exports | 6,076.0 | 5,840.2 | 6,070.4 | 62,144.0 |
| Balance | 483.1 | 544.2 | 567.6 | 3,555.7 |
| y/y % change | ||||
| Imports | 1.6% | 0.9% | 10.6% | 5.1% |
| Exports | 0.1% | 4.8% | 12.8% | 9.4% |
| Source: Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic |
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