Slovenia ups 2022 GDP forecast, cuts 2023 forecast

Ljubljana [Slovenia],September 16:Slovenia's economy will expand by 5 percent this year, the government's macroeconomic institute (UMAR) said on Thursday, improving its April forecast of 4.2 percent growth.
The institute also cut its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for 2023 from 3 percent to 1.4 percent.
It expects this year's inflation to reach 9.8 percent, up from 4.9 percent in 2021. This means that inflation this year will be the highest in over 20 years. Meanwhile, UMAR has predicted 3.9 percent inflation for 2023.
"We expect higher economic growth this year mainly due to higher-than-expected household spending in the first half of the year," the institute said in a report.
It added that the economy is expected to slow down in the second half of this year, and this will continue in 2023. "Growth will slow down to 1.3 percent next year and then speed up to 2.6 percent in 2024," providing that there are no shocks, UMAR said.
Household spending is expected to rise by 5.4 percent this year, and then by 0.3 percent in 2023. Exports will increase by 5 percent this year, and by 2.5 percent in 2023, the institute said.
Negative risks remain strong and are mainly linked to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, soaring global energy and food prices, it said.
Slovenia's government has said it will spend more than 1.5 billion euros this year and next on measures designed to ease the burden of rising energy prices on the economy and the population.
Slovenia's economy is export-oriented, with its main exports including cars, car parts, pharmaceutical products and household appliances.
Source: Xinhua