Slovenia's economy expanded at an annual rate of 2.1% in real terms in the first quarter of the year. Seasonally-adjusted growth in GDP, which is a gauge used across the EU, was 1.8% year-on-year but level on the quarter before, data released by the Statistics Office show.

Compared to the quarter before, the pace of growth according to seasonally-adjusted data was much more modest; in Q4 GDP increased by 2.6% year-on-year and by 1.1% quarter-on-quarter.

Commenting on the data, Slovenia's central bank described the economic activity as fairly favourable and keeping up the positive outlook for the rest of the year.

It also noted that Slovenia's economic growth was above the eurozone average in the first quarter, which current estimates put at 0.4%.

Domestic consumption increased by 1.7% in the first three months of the year, the most significant growth over the past year and a half.

Final consumption, which includes both households and the state, was up 2.0%, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points over the previous quarter and 0.1% less year-on-year.

Final consumption of households increased 0.9% year-on-year, 0.3 points less than in the previous quarter, but significantly more than in the second and third quarters of 2023. In the first three months of 2023, growth was at a sturdy 3.4%.

Final consumption of the state in the first quarter of 2024 was up by 5.1%, 0.3 points more than in the last three months of 2023 and significantly more than in the preceding quarters.

After four consecutive quarters of negative growth, gross investments increased by 0.9% in the first quarter of 2024, pushed up by stock trends, which contributed 0.1 percentage points to the GDP after dragging it down in the previous quarters.

Gross investments in fixed assets were up 0.6%, a considerable decrease over the dynamics of growth in 2023, when the figure stood between 7.7% and 11.2%. The slowdown was the most pronounced in construction projects.

Imports and exports were somewhat lower than in the first three months of 2023, but the drop was less pronounced than in the past three quarters.

Imports were down 0.9% - 0.1% in goods and 4.8% in services. Exports were down 0.6%, dropping 7.1% in services and increasing 1.1% in goods. The trade surplus contributed 0.2 percentage points to the GDP growth.

Forecasts released by the European Commission and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on 15 May suggest that Slovenia's economy will grow at a faster pace than the rest of the eurozone and the EU.

Both institutions expect the country's GDP to increase by 2.3% this year before the growth accelerates to 2.6% next year. Compared to its February forecast, the Commission upgraded the figure for this year by 0.4% percentage points but downgraded the 2025 figure by 0.1 point.