Gross domestic product, 1st quarter 2008

Print version

GDP grew by 5.4 percent in the first quarter of 2008
Gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 5.4 percent in the first quarter of 2008 compared to the first quarter of 2007.
Seasonally and working days adjusted GDP increased by 2.2 percent in the first quarter of 2008 compared to the fourth quarter of 2007 and by 5.7 percent compared to the first quarter of 2007.
In the first quarter of 2008 GDP at current prices amounted to EUR 8,497 million or 10.7 percent more than in the first quarter of 2007. Implicit GDP deflator (105.0 at the annual level) was higher than in 2007 mainly due to the higher domestic expenditure deflator. On the other hand, the terms of trade with the rest of the world remain negative.

High growth in gross capital formation
Gross capital formation increased by 17.6 percent in the first quarter of 2008 compared to the first quarter of 2007. After the temporary slowdown in the growth rate by the end of 2007, gross capital formation thus continues to record high growth.
Gross fixed capital formation increased by 17.1 percent at the annual level. The most important contribution to such growth came from the investments in buildings and structures; they increased by 25.1 percent which is similar growth as in 2007. Investments in residential buildings increased by 16.3 percent and investments in non-residential buildings by 28.5 percent.
The growth of investments in machinery and equipment was more modest (7.5 percent) and comparable to growth at the end of 2007. Investments in transport equipment increased by 5.5 percent and investment in other machinery and equipment by 8.3 percent.

Slowdown in the exports growth continues
Exports of goods and services increased by 6.3 percent compared to the first quarter of 2007. The slowdown in the exports growth was already recorded in the fourth quarter of 2007 and continued in the beginning of 2008. Imports of goods and services increased by 9.4 percent which is comparable to growth at the end of 2007. As imports growth was higher than exports growth, external trade balance had negative effect to GDP volume growth (2.3 percentage points, of which exports 4.5 percentage points and imports (negative) 6.8 percentage points).

Moderate growth in final consumption
Final consumption increased by 3.4 percent in the first quarter of 2008 which is comparable to growth in 2007. Final consumption expenditure of households as well as of general government increased by 3.4 percent at the annual level. Expenditure by households continues to record similar growth as in the previous year; on the other hand, the increase of the general government expenditure was higher at the beginning of 2008 compared to 2007.

Again high growth of value added in construction, much slower growth in manufacturing
In the first quarter of 2008, total value added increased by the same percent as GDP (5.4 percent). By far the largest increase of value added was again recorded in construction (27.4 percent). After gradual slowdown in growth in the second half of 2007 which was more remarkable in the fourth quarter, the value added growth in construction returned to the levels from the beginning of 2007.
Value added in manufacturing increased by 1.9 percent which is considerably lower growth than in 2007. Such growth is the lowest in the last three years (after the first quarter of 2005).
Value added in business services increased by 2.5 percent, in trade by 9.0 percent, in transport by 2.5 percent and in public administration by 3.3 percent.

High employment growth continues
Employment continued to increase with increasing growth rates for the tenth quarter in a row. According to national accounts, total employment amounted to 971,700 persons in the first quarter of 2008 which is by 3.1 percent more than in the first quarter of 2007. By activities employment increased the most in construction (13.5 percent), transport (6.6 percent) and business services (6.1 percent).
Employment continued to increase also in manufacturing; in the first quarter of 2008 it was by 0.3 percent higher than in 2007. At the same time such growth at the beginning of 2008 shows continued slowdown which began in the second half of 2007.

Note
Unless otherwise indicated, all comparisons in this text relate to non-seasonally adjusted data and to volume changes.

More detailed data
More detailed data including time series are available at http://www.stat.si/eng/bdp.asp.
Due to the annual national accounts revision, quarterly accounts series for the 1995-1999 period are not reconciled with the annual accounts data. Reconciled data will be published on 10 December 2008.