Slovak economy declines by 14.8% y-o-y in Q2

The Slovak economy is slowly but gradually switching back on. According to the latest estimate from the Office of the Council for Budget Responsibility, after reaching its low-point in April, when it fell by as much as 20% year-on-year, as of June it had already erased half of this loss. This stems from the latest short-term forecast published by the Budget Responsibility Council, which is an independent body for monitoring the fiscal performance of the Slovak Republic. The quarter-on-quarter decline in economic growth in the second quarter of this year is estimated by the Council to reach 11%, which means a year-on-year decline in gross domestic product (GDP) of 14.8%. For the first half of 2020 the estimated drop so far is 2.4% of GDP, better than originally assumed by the Committee for Macroeconomic Forecasts in June 2020. The statistical office will publish an official estimate of GDP growth for the second quarter on 14 August 2020.