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Europe > Slovenia, Republic of

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Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Republic of Slovenia: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper focuses on boosting productivity in Slovenia. Slovenia’s ageing population sets a constraint on the contribution of labor to gross domestic product in the end.Only achieve sustained increases in income and living standards can, therefore, through investment in physical and human capital and, more importantly, through enhancing productivity, historically the key growth driver. This paper summarizes historical trends in growth and productivity in Slovenia, examines the country’s strengths and weaknesses in terms of key factors affecting productivity identified in the literature. Since the scope for future labor contributions to growth in Slovenia is limited for demographic reasons—apart from further improvements to labor quality—the focus of economic growth policies should be on reinvigorating private investment, which has been low over the past decade, and pursuing labor and product market reforms that boost total factor productivity growth.
Keywords:
productivity trend; firm leverage; labor market indicator; I. shift share methodology; EU growth composition; Productivity; Total factor productivity; Labor force; Private investment; Europe; Central and Eastern Europe; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Slovak Republic: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper focuses on drivers and impacts of inflation in Slovakia. High and volatile inflation in Slovakia in recent years seems to be mainly driven by volatile food prices amplified by the larger consumer price index weight of food items. Other drivers include the large impact of imported inflation, elevated profit margins of domestic firms, and higher wage growth. High inflation could erode external competitiveness through higher unit labor costs, but there is no clear evidence of this so far. Domestically, high inflation has had uneven impacts across households and firms. Firms with the largest cost increases experienced a deterioration in their financial situation, and certain categories of households, including those with low-income levels and the elderly, are particularly vulnerable to the rising cost of living. The recent fall in inflation is projected to continue, but strong unit labor cost growth or an increase in profit margins could keep inflation elevated and undermine competitiveness.
Keywords:
price change; unit labor cost; inflation in Slovakia; B. income convergence; D. policy implication; Inflation; Productivity; Total factor productivity; Aging; Europe; Central and Eastern Europe; Baltics
Cover IMF Working Papers
State-Owned Enterprises in Emerging Europe: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Uwe Böwer
State-owned enterprises (SOEs) play an important role in Emerging Europe’s economies, notably in the energy and transport sectors. Based on a new firm-level dataset, this paper reviews the SOE landscape, assesses SOE performance across countries and vis-à-vis private firms, and evaluates recent SOE governance reform experience in 11 Emerging European countries, as well as Sweden as a benchmark. Profitability and efficiency of resource allocation of SOEs lag those of private firms in most sectors, with substantial cross-country variation. Poor SOE performance raises three main risks: large and risky contingent liabilities could stretch public finances; sizeable state ownership of banks coupled with poor governance could threaten financial stability; and negative productivity spillovers could affect the economy at large. SOE governance frameworks are partly weak and should be strengthened along three lines: fleshing out a consistent ownership policy; giving teeth to financial oversight; and making SOE boards more professional.
Keywords:
WP; SOE performance; output share; SOE governance challenge; governance reform; SOE profitability; State-Owned Enterprises; Emerging Europe Author’s; firm profitability; SOE landscape; oversight unit; ownership function; performance target; reform effort; professionalized SOE board; infrastructure sector; Public enterprises; Energy sector; Services sector; Contingent liabilities; Productivity; Europe
Cover Finance & Development
Finance and Development, March 2017
International Monetary Fund. External Relations Dept.
This paper reports about current mainstream growth projections for the United States and the European Union over the medium term represent a marked slowdown from growth rates in the decades prior to the global financial crisis. Slower growth in Europe and the United States has mixed implications for growth prospects in developing economies. Most obviously, on the negative side, it means less demand for these countries’ exports, so models of development based on export-led growth may need to be rethought. In contrast, for Western Europe the narrative is about catch-up growth rather than the rate of cutting-edge technological progress. From the middle of the 20th century to the recent global crisis, this experience comprised three distinct phases. European medium-term growth prospects depend both on how fast productivity grows in the United States and whether catch-up growth can resume after a long hiatus. Economic historians see social capability as a key determinant of success or failure in catch-up growth.
Keywords:
FD; F&D; economy; can money; workforce benefit; productivity growth; utility price; polymer note; pension payment; prices in the shop; Productivity; Non-renewable resources; Income inequality; Aging; Global; Europe; Sub-Saharan Africa; Western Europe; East Asia
Cover IMF Working Papers
A Fresh Look at Potential Output in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern European Countries
Jiri Podpiera
,
Ms. Faezeh Raei
, and
Ara Stepanyan
Was the postcrisis growth slowdown in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE) structural or cyclical? We use three different methods—production function approach, basic multivariate filter, and multivariate filter with financial frictions—to evaluate potential growth and output gaps for 18 CESEE countries during 2000-15. Our findings suggest that potential growth weakened significantly after the crisis across most countries in the region. This decline appears to be largely due to stagnant productivity and weaker capital accumulation, which were associated with common external factors, including trading partners’ slow potential growth, but also decline in global trade and stalled expansion of global value chains. Our estimates suggest that output gaps in 2015 were largely closed in many countries in the region.
Keywords:
WP; output gap estimate; CESEE; Potential output; Output gap; Emerging Markets; core inflation; output gap amplitude; MVF FIN; CESEE economy; Capacity utilization; Inflation; Total factor productivity; Global; Baltics; Central and Eastern Europe
Cover IMF Working Papers
Cross-Country Linkages in Europe: A Global VAR Analysis
Ms. Yan M Sun
,
Mr. Frigyes F Heinz
, and
Giang Ho
This paper uses the Global VAR (GVAR) model proposed by Pesaran et al. (2004) to study cross-country linkages among euro area countries, other advanced European countries (including the Nordics, the UK, etc.), and the Central, Eastern and Southeastern European (CESEE) countries. An innovative feature of the paper is the use of combined trade and financial weights (based on BIS reporting banks’ external position data) to capture the very close trade and financial ties of the CESEE countries with the advanced Europe countries. The results show strong co-movements in output growth and interest rates but weaker linkages bewteen inflation and real credit growth within Europe. While the euro area is the dominant source of economic influences, there are also interesting subregional linkages, e.g. between the Nordic and the Baltic countries, and a small but notable impact of CESEE countries on the rest of the Europe.
Keywords:
WP; CESEE country; real GDP; Nordic country; country VAR; country sample; Spillover; Global VAR; regional model; macro-financial linkages; emerging Europe; VAR model; ith economy; growth rate; Credit; Vector autoregression; Inflation; Long term interest rates; Production growth; Baltics; Europe; Western Europe; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Assessing Competitiveness Using Industry Unit Labor Costs: An Application to Slovakia
International Monetary Fund
Conceptual ambiguities and statistical weaknesses hamper the assessment of external competitiveness. The term competitiveness, while applied extensively, is often imprecisely defined, which can result in analytical errors and mistaken policy advice. Furthermore, aggregate statistical measures of competitiveness in terms of exchange rate misalignment can be biased. To address these issues, this paper makes two contributions. First, it clarifies the external competitiveness concept, highlighting the dichotomy between productivity-driven long-run growth and short-run deviations from the underlying growth trajectory, which can be related to exchange rate misalignment. Second, it develops a disaggregated statistical approach for examining competitiveness based on unit labor costs at the three digit industry level in a group of comparable countries. The case of Slovakia is used to illustrate these concepts, but the analytical insights have general application.
Keywords:
WP; Slovakia; cost; export share; competitiveness; unit labor cost; exchange rate; price level; paper estimates unit labor cost norm; disaggregated ULC; ULC dev.; industry unit labor cost; ULC relative; Competition; Exchange rates; Productivity; Global competitiveness; Export performance; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Economic Growth in Croatia: Potential and Constraints
Mr. David Moore
and
Mr. Athanasios Vamvakidis
This paper examines the factors and constraints that affect recent and potential growth in Croatia, as well as policies that can influence it. On current productivity trends, it estimates Croatia's potential growth rate at 4-4½ percent, a result reasonably robust to different methodologies. To sustain growth at a higher rate in line with the authorities' aspirations, the analysis highlights the critical need to improve the business environment through further measures to reduce the administrative burden, legal uncertainties, and corruption. It also emphasizes the importance of attracting more greenfield foreign direct investment, and reforms to reduce the role of the state in the economy through fiscal consolidation and faster privatization.
Keywords:
WP; reform progress; transition rank; export base; Croatia's rank; EBRD indices; economic growth in Croatia; innovation in Croatia; Business environment; Foreign direct investment; Structural reforms; Total factor productivity; Europe
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Euro Area Policies: Staff Report for the 2006 Article IV Consultation
International Monetary Fund
The euro area recovered from the economic doldrums. Executive Directors welcomed the recovery, supported by strong financial conditions, global growth, and improved financial positions. They encouraged the reformed Stability and Growth Pact over fiscal policies, and underscored the need for accelerated fiscal consolidation and structural reforms. They pointed to the integrated National Reform Programs under the reformed Lisbon process and labor market reforms. Directors welcomed the progress in integrating Europe’s financial markets and the new Directive on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; ECB statement; market participant; August rate hike; euro; market; headline inflation; banking market; services PMI indicator; financing activity; Inflation; Productivity; Oil prices; Price stabilization; Employment; Global; Europe; South Asia
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Republic of Slovenia: Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix
International Monetary Fund
This Selected Issues paper provides a quantitative assessment of the determinants of inflation in Slovenia, and evaluates the likelihood of the Maastricht inflation criterion being met. It concludes that on the basis of currently identified policies, Slovene inflation will likely remain above the Maastricht criterion over the assessment period. The IMF staff analysis suggests that the economic slowdown related to the unfavorable external environment contributed about two-thirds to disinflation in 2003. This paper also analyzes the direct fiscal implications of European Union accession on Slovenia.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; budget; Slovenia; Maastricht inflation criterion; EU budget; EU entry; EU contribution; EU accession; equilibrium inflation; Inflation; Budget planning and preparation; Output gap; Productivity