Central bank ups Slovenia's 2023 GDP growth forecast to 2 pct

LJUBLJANA, June 16 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of Slovenia on Friday increased its 2023 gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast to 2 percent from 0.8 percent published last December.

For 2024, the bank now expects the country's economy to grow by 2.2 percent, up 0.2 percentage points on earlier forecast.

"Growth will continue to be based on domestic spending, which will keep inflation at a high level," the bank said in a statement.

It expects the country's average annual inflation to be 7.5 percent, down from 9.3 percent in 2022. The current projection is 3.6 percent for 2024 and 2.6 percent for 2025.

"High inflation remains the key economic challenge and also the key risk for (this) macroeconomic forecast," the bank said.

It said household spending will this year increase by 2.3 percent and next year by 1.5 percent, while state spending will rise by 0.9 percent in 2023 and by 2.6 percent in 2024.

The bank expects exports to increase by 1.4 percent this year and by 4.4 percent in 2024. Imports will increase by 0.6 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively.

Slovenia is an export-oriented country, which sells more than 70 percent of its production abroad, mostly in other European Union (EU) states. Its main exports include cars, car parts, pharmaceuticals and household appliances. One of the country's main exporters, household appliances producer Gorenje, is owned by Chinese multinational electronics manufacturer Hisense.