Slovakia's foreign trade surplus widens 36.6% m/m in Feb 2014

By bne IntelliNews April 9, 2014

Slovakia’s foreign trade surplus widened to EUR 537.1mn in February 2014 from a revised surplus of EUR 393.3mn the month before, preliminary data from the statistics office showed. The January’s surplus figure was revised up from EUR 324.2mn.

In annual terms, the foreign trade surplus was by 30.6% higher in February. Exports, which have been the sole driving force of the Slovak economic growth in the past two years, rose by 6.2% y/y in February 2014, following a revised 6.8% annual increase in January. Imports in February rose by 4% y/y after increasing by a revised 6.7% y/y in the previous month. On a monthly basis, February’s exports rose 3.3% and imports increased by 0.6%.

In the first two months of 2014 the country's foreign trade surplus expanded by 20% on the year to EUR 930.3mn.

In 2013, Slovakia's exports increased by 3.6% y/y to EUR 64.36bn, while imports rose 2.5% y/y to EUR 60.08bn, resulting in a foreign trade surplus of EUR 4.28bn.

IntelliNews comment: Slovakia’s trade surplus expectedly increased in February thanks to rising foreign demand. The central bank expects exports to remain the main driver of the country’s economic growth and to rise by 7.6% y/y in 2014. Local analysts forecast at the beginning of 2014 that the country will end the year with a surplus, which is likely to be higher compared to 2013.

EUR mn Feb-14 Jan-14 Feb-13 2013
Imports 4,786.6 4,759.7 4,602.1 60,077.4
Exports 5,323.6 5,152.9 5,013.3 64,361.1
Balance 537.1 393.3 411.2 4,283.7
y/y % change        
Imports 4.0% 6.7% 1.4% 2.5%
Exports 6.2% 6.8% 3.8% 3.6%
Source: Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic        
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