Slovak economy grows by record 9.4 pct in Q3

...consumption, the Statistics Office said on Friday. 
    The third quarter data matched the preliminary estimate 
released by the statistics office earlier in November.  
    "Both the contribution of net exports and household 
consumption increased in the third quarter, but the main driver 
of the economy was again foreign demand," said Miroslav Frayer, 
an analyst at Komercni Banka in Prague. 
    The Slovak economy has been showing one of the highest 
growth rates in the European Union. 
    Export oriented industries, such as car manufacturing and 
electronics sector, have become the main drivers of the economy 
after strong investments in the past few years. 
    GDP growth has been also helped by reviving domestic demand 
as households spend more after years of belt-tightening reforms. 
    Analysts said strong GDP growth was not a concern for the 
National Bank of Slovakia (NBS), the central bank, as its 
structure did not appear to be causing economic overheating. 
    "The NBS does not have to react to this structure, and I 
think growth is still healthy and it is not creating significant 
inflationary pressures in the economy," Frayer said. 
    Separate data showed real wage growth of 4.2 percent in the 
third quarter, which, analysts said, was also not a cause of 
concern because of faster productivity growth. 
    The statistics office added it had maintained its forecast 
of 8.8 percent economic growth for full-year 2007, which would 
be the fastest yearly rise ever in Slovakia. 
    (Additional reporting by Martin Santa) 
    (Reporting by Peter Laca) 
     
  Keywords: SLOVAKIA ECONOMY/GROWTH 
    

[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]