IMF Upgrades Slovenia Growth Forecast to 1.4%
Published on 8 october 2014The IMF had previously projected Slovenia's GDP to grow by 0.3% in 2014 and by 0.9% in 2015, but even those were an improvement form its January forecast of a 1.1% contraction for the year.
Following the latest upgrade, issued on Tuesday, the IMF will release a more detailed assessment of the economic situation and the outlook for the country as part of its upcoming mission to Slovenia.
The latest forecast for the country is for inflation to be at a mere 0.5% this year and then to increase to 1% next year.
The unemployment rate is expected to stop at 9.9% this year before falling to 9.5% in 2015.
The projections follow from the IMF's latest World Economic Outlook, released as part of proceedings of the autumn meetings of the IMF and the World Bank.
Presenting the report in Washington, chief of the IMF's World Economics Study Division, Thomas Helbling, attributed the Slovenia upgrade to an improvement in the external environment, mainly in Slovenia's main trade partners.
Helbling also expressed the hope that the Miro Cerar government would press on with reforms in the banking and financial sectors so as to pave the way for a bolstering in domestic demand.
The IMF has recently also appointed a new mission chief for Slovenia. Romanian Delia Velculescu, who had previously headed the mission tor Cyprus, succeeds Daria Zakharova of Russia.
The IMF downgraded its global growth forecast for the year by 0.1 of a percentage point to 3.3%, which is to accelerate to 3.8% in 2015, down 0.2 points from the previous forecast.
For the eurozone, the IMF projects a growth of 0.8% for this year, which is to expand to 1.3% next year.
Source: SloveniaTimes
