Preliminary estimate of Slovak GDP in Q4 2011 released on February 15, 2012 by the Statistics Office brought pleasant surprise. Slovak economy grew by 3.4% in the fourth quarter of 2011. These surprisingly good results of the last quarter of 2011 bring optimistic outlook for 2012. According to a Finance Ministry statement also released on February 15, there is a possibility for higher-than-expected growth in Slovakia's GDP in 2012. "The published data have introduced positive factors to the latest macroeconomic prognosis for 2012, which counts on 1.1-percent growth in 2012," stated Finance Ministry spokesman Martin Jaroš, as quoted by TASR. Eva Sadovska, an analyst at Postova Bankabelieves the Slovak economy was boosted particularly by foreign demand in Q4 2011. In current prices, the country's GDP reached 17.809 billion euros (23.307 billion U.S. dollars) in the fourth quarter, an increase of 5.3 percent compared with a year earlier. According to chief economist at UniCredit Bank Vladimir Zlacky, the figures proved that Slovak economic growth resisted deceleration in Western Europe to some extent. Zlacky expects an economic recovery this year after a weaker first quarter. UniCredit Bank has revised its 2012 growth forecast for Slovakia from 1.9 percent to 2.4 percent.
