LJUBLJANA, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission on Thursday raised the 2021 gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for Slovenia to 6.4 percent from 5.7 percent it had forecast in July.
It also cut the 2022 GDP growth forecast to 4.2 percent from the five percent forecast earlier, adding that growth in 2023 would reach 3.5 percent.
"The economy is expected to return to its 2019 level already in the third quarter of 2021 and to continue growing at a strong pace in 2022-23, driven by consumption and investment," the Commission said in a report.
"A faster (than expected) implementation of public investment projects is a positive risk to the forecast, while pandemic-related uncertainties continue to weigh on the negative risks," it added.
Slovenia, which has a population of 2.1 million, was badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and its economy shrank by 4.2 percent in 2020.
The country recorded the highest daily number of new COVID-19 cases with 4,511 cases on Nov. 3. The number of new cases reached 3,568 on Wednesday, according to the National Institute of Public Health. So far, 53.5 percent of all citizens have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 across the country.
The Commission said the general government deficit of Slovenia is expected to fall to 7.2 percent of GDP in 2021 and 5.2 percent in 2022, down from 7.7 percent last year, "mainly due to the rebound in economic activity and the expiration of some measures adopted to mitigate the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic."
The measures included bonuses for people who worked with COVID-19 patients and financial compensation to companies and citizens whose finances were hit by the pandemic.
The Commission also said Slovenia's inflation is expected to reach 1.7 percent this year and 2.1 percent in 2022, after the country had a negative inflation of minus 0.3 percent in 2020. Enditem