LJUBLJANA (dpa-AFX) - Slovenia's economic growth was the lowest in nearly four years during the second quarter as increased imports caused trade to make a negative contribution to GDP, preliminary data from the statistical office SURS showed on Friday.
Gross domestic product grew a non-seasonally adjusted 2.5 percent year-on-year after a 3.3 percent increase in the first three months of the year.
The pace of growth was the weakest since the third quarter of 2015, when the economy expanded 2.3 percent.
Growth in imports surged to 12.3 percent from 7.7 percent and that in exports climbed to 9.4 percent from 7.9 percent.
The trade balance made a negative contribution of 1.3 points to GDP versus 0.8 points in the previous quarter.
Domestic consumption growth improved to 4.2 percent and the increase in gross fixed capital formation surged to 9.2 percent.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, GDP rose 2.6 percent year-on-year following a 3.5 percent growth in the previous quarter. The pace was the fastest since the first quarter of 2016.
Quarter-on-quarter, GDP increased 0.2 percent in the second quarter after a 0.6 percent rise in the previous three months.
Separately, the statistical office said the Slovene economy grew 4.1 percent in 2018 after a 4.8 percent expansion in 2017.
The statistical office also reported that the ILO unemployment rate was 4.2 percent in the second quarter, which was the lowest since the third quarter of 2008, when the rate was 4.1 percent.
In July, the volume of retail sales rose 1.2 percent monthly, after two consecutive declines, driven by higher sales in specialized stores with motor fuels.
Inflation accelerated to 2.3 percent in August from 2 percent in July, preliminary data showed on Friday. The harmonized inflation meant for EU comparison was 2.4 percent.
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