Gross domestic product, other aggregates of national accounts and employment, 2023
2.1% economic growth in 2023
After revision of annual estimates, Slovenia’s gross domestic product for 2023 was estimated at EUR 63,951 million. Compared to the previous year, it grew by 12.4% in nominal terms and by 2.1% in volume terms. We also made a scheduled benchmark revision of national accounts from 1995 on.
First estimate of 2023 GDP based on annual data sources
We prepared the first estimate of the 2023 GDP based on annual data sources.
Slower economic growth with continued rising general price level
Slovenia’s gross domestic product for 2023 was estimated at EUR 63,951 million. This was a 12.4% nominal increase over the previous year, again mostly due to rising product prices. In volume terms, the 2023 GDP grew by 2.1% (in 2022, nominal growth was 9.4% and real growth 2.7%). Both output and intermediate consumption decreased in real terms, but intermediate consumption decreased more (by 2.5%) than output (by 0.3%).
GDP volume growth based on annual data sources is 0.5 of a percentage point higher than the quarterly estimate published on 14 February 2024. A comparison of revised GDP at basic prices is not meaningful because the quarterly estimate was prepared before the inclusion of the steps of this year’s benchmark revision, which is explained further in this release.
Economic activities with the largest contribution to GDP growth in 2023 were construction (0.8 of a percentage point), electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (0.7 p.p.), manufacturing (0.3 p.p.) and information and communication (0.3 p.p.).
The largest negative contribution to GDP growth came from financial and insurance activities (−0.1 p.p.), mining and quarrying (−0.1 p.p.) and agriculture, forestry and fishing (−0.1 p.p.).
Positive impact of external trade balance, low growth of final consumption
External demand decreased in 2023 (−2.0% in volume terms), but imports of goods and services decreased more (−4.5% in volume terms), so that the external trade balance had a positive impact on GDP volume growth by 2.3 percentage points. The decrease in exports and imports was in goods, whereas services had a moderate growth. Terms of trade improved after two years of decline, export prices went up on average by 1.6% and import prices down by 2.0%.
The increase in inventories was weaker than the previous year, contributing −1.5 p.p. to GDP volume growth. Final consumption expenditure of households grew in real terms by 0.2% and that of general government by 2.4%. Gross fixed capital formation increased in volume by 3.9%.
Lower share of compensation of employees, higher share of net operating surplus and mixed income
The share of compensation of employees in GDP was 51.2% in 2023 (0.7 of a percentage point lower than in the previous year). The share of taxes on production was 13.1% (0.6 p.p. lower). The share of subsidies was 2.3% (0.5 p.p. higher). The share of consumption of fixed capital was 18.0% (1.1 p.p. lower). The share of net operating surplus and mixed income was 20.1% (3.0 p.p. higher than in the previous year).
Continued growth of employment
The number of employees increased by 1.2% and the number of self-employed persons by 3.6%. Total employment increased by 1.6% and was estimated at the annual average of one million and a hundred thousand persons. This was again the highest employment in the entire time series of Slovenian national accounts. Employees represented 80.2% and the self-employed 19.8% of total employment.
Benchmark revision of national accounts from 1995
In addition to routine annual revisions, which include the usual data updates and encompass the last four years, we revise national accounts estimates also within benchmark revisions. Such revisions are made by EU member states in the same year, every five years, for a longer time series of national accounts data. In this way, we ensure the comparability of data between countries and in time. The previous benchmark revision was made in 2019.
Benchmark revisions involve changes in estimation methods and data sources that go beyond the usual annual revisions. The impact of revision steps on the indicators can be different; some steps increase GDP while others decrease it. Some steps improve the breakdown of GDP components or impact other national accounts besides GDP.
Benchmark revisions often involve revision steps to address and lift formal reservations of the European Commission on whether a country’s gross national income data are appropriate for determining EU’s own resources (GNI OR). Reservations and action points are the result of multiannual verification cycles, in which the data are checked against national accounts standards (European System of Accounts 2010 according to EU Regulation 549/2013 (ESA 2010) and accompanying methodological framework). Some reservations and action points are common to all countries, others are specific and depend on the result of verification in a particular country. For Slovenia, the largest impact from this group of revision steps was due to a new guidance from Eurostat on recording per diem payments for business travel. Slovenia had made a revision in this area 13 years ago based on a Commission’s action point, whereby at the time part of intermediate consumption was reclassified to compensation of employees and consequently increased value added. The new guidance has a narrower scope of this type of expenditure, which results in lower reclassification of intermediate consumption, thereby increasing it and decreasing value added and compensation of employees. In most years from 1995 on, this step decreased GDP level by about 0.5%, whereas the average impact on economic growth was negligible.
The next group of revision steps stems from excessive deficit procedure for general government (EDP), which has impact on GDP and other national accounts besides data for administrative purposes. In this year’s revision, the largest impact from this group was from reclassification of taxes and subsidies, mostly on energy supply.
Both types of revision of data for administrative purposes (GNI OR and EDP) are made within required shorter deadlines (usually one year), but for regular national accounts publication, in case of larger impact in a longer time series of data, we postpone them to the five-year benchmark revisions, for synchronised comparability between countries and in the entire time series.
The third group of revision steps are other changes in methods and data sources with larger potential impact on estimates than the regular revisions. One of these was alignment with new European recommendations for estimation of fixed assets. In Slovenia’s case there were changes of average service lives of assets; longer service lives for some assets and shorter for others, with the net effect increasing GDP through consumption of fixed capital of non-market sectors – general government, non-profit institutions serving households, owner-occupiers of dwellings. The latter had dwellings services revised also due to inclusion of data from the 2021 Census of Population and Housing. A change of data source in estimation of own-account firewood production also had a large impact in this group of revision steps, revising the estimates downwards in the entire time series.
The list of revision steps is extensive. We point out the ones with the larger impact on GDP:
The estimates for recent years were affected also by the routine update of data sources.
Revision steps had a similar impact on GDP in different years; some steps increased it, others decreased it. The total impact was a decrease in nominal GDP level in most of the time series from 1995 on, whereas the economic growth curve remained similar as before the revision.
The average change of the level of GDP at current prices in the period 1995–2022 period was −0.7% and the average change of economic growth was 0.0%.
The next major revision is planned for 2029, when, in addition to the findings of the new round of data verification, a new methodological basis will be prepared, which will upgrade or replace the current European regulation (European System of Accounts 2010). The classification of economic activities will also be updated.
Tables with the latest data are available in the SiStat Database.
We prepared the first estimate of the 2023 GDP based on annual data sources.
Slower economic growth with continued rising general price level
Slovenia’s gross domestic product for 2023 was estimated at EUR 63,951 million. This was a 12.4% nominal increase over the previous year, again mostly due to rising product prices. In volume terms, the 2023 GDP grew by 2.1% (in 2022, nominal growth was 9.4% and real growth 2.7%). Both output and intermediate consumption decreased in real terms, but intermediate consumption decreased more (by 2.5%) than output (by 0.3%).
GDP volume growth based on annual data sources is 0.5 of a percentage point higher than the quarterly estimate published on 14 February 2024. A comparison of revised GDP at basic prices is not meaningful because the quarterly estimate was prepared before the inclusion of the steps of this year’s benchmark revision, which is explained further in this release.
Economic activities with the largest contribution to GDP growth in 2023 were construction (0.8 of a percentage point), electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (0.7 p.p.), manufacturing (0.3 p.p.) and information and communication (0.3 p.p.).
The largest negative contribution to GDP growth came from financial and insurance activities (−0.1 p.p.), mining and quarrying (−0.1 p.p.) and agriculture, forestry and fishing (−0.1 p.p.).
Positive impact of external trade balance, low growth of final consumption
External demand decreased in 2023 (−2.0% in volume terms), but imports of goods and services decreased more (−4.5% in volume terms), so that the external trade balance had a positive impact on GDP volume growth by 2.3 percentage points. The decrease in exports and imports was in goods, whereas services had a moderate growth. Terms of trade improved after two years of decline, export prices went up on average by 1.6% and import prices down by 2.0%.
The increase in inventories was weaker than the previous year, contributing −1.5 p.p. to GDP volume growth. Final consumption expenditure of households grew in real terms by 0.2% and that of general government by 2.4%. Gross fixed capital formation increased in volume by 3.9%.
Lower share of compensation of employees, higher share of net operating surplus and mixed income
The share of compensation of employees in GDP was 51.2% in 2023 (0.7 of a percentage point lower than in the previous year). The share of taxes on production was 13.1% (0.6 p.p. lower). The share of subsidies was 2.3% (0.5 p.p. higher). The share of consumption of fixed capital was 18.0% (1.1 p.p. lower). The share of net operating surplus and mixed income was 20.1% (3.0 p.p. higher than in the previous year).
Continued growth of employment
The number of employees increased by 1.2% and the number of self-employed persons by 3.6%. Total employment increased by 1.6% and was estimated at the annual average of one million and a hundred thousand persons. This was again the highest employment in the entire time series of Slovenian national accounts. Employees represented 80.2% and the self-employed 19.8% of total employment.
Benchmark revision of national accounts from 1995
In addition to routine annual revisions, which include the usual data updates and encompass the last four years, we revise national accounts estimates also within benchmark revisions. Such revisions are made by EU member states in the same year, every five years, for a longer time series of national accounts data. In this way, we ensure the comparability of data between countries and in time. The previous benchmark revision was made in 2019.
Benchmark revisions involve changes in estimation methods and data sources that go beyond the usual annual revisions. The impact of revision steps on the indicators can be different; some steps increase GDP while others decrease it. Some steps improve the breakdown of GDP components or impact other national accounts besides GDP.
Benchmark revisions often involve revision steps to address and lift formal reservations of the European Commission on whether a country’s gross national income data are appropriate for determining EU’s own resources (GNI OR). Reservations and action points are the result of multiannual verification cycles, in which the data are checked against national accounts standards (European System of Accounts 2010 according to EU Regulation 549/2013 (ESA 2010) and accompanying methodological framework). Some reservations and action points are common to all countries, others are specific and depend on the result of verification in a particular country. For Slovenia, the largest impact from this group of revision steps was due to a new guidance from Eurostat on recording per diem payments for business travel. Slovenia had made a revision in this area 13 years ago based on a Commission’s action point, whereby at the time part of intermediate consumption was reclassified to compensation of employees and consequently increased value added. The new guidance has a narrower scope of this type of expenditure, which results in lower reclassification of intermediate consumption, thereby increasing it and decreasing value added and compensation of employees. In most years from 1995 on, this step decreased GDP level by about 0.5%, whereas the average impact on economic growth was negligible.
The next group of revision steps stems from excessive deficit procedure for general government (EDP), which has impact on GDP and other national accounts besides data for administrative purposes. In this year’s revision, the largest impact from this group was from reclassification of taxes and subsidies, mostly on energy supply.
Both types of revision of data for administrative purposes (GNI OR and EDP) are made within required shorter deadlines (usually one year), but for regular national accounts publication, in case of larger impact in a longer time series of data, we postpone them to the five-year benchmark revisions, for synchronised comparability between countries and in the entire time series.
The third group of revision steps are other changes in methods and data sources with larger potential impact on estimates than the regular revisions. One of these was alignment with new European recommendations for estimation of fixed assets. In Slovenia’s case there were changes of average service lives of assets; longer service lives for some assets and shorter for others, with the net effect increasing GDP through consumption of fixed capital of non-market sectors – general government, non-profit institutions serving households, owner-occupiers of dwellings. The latter had dwellings services revised also due to inclusion of data from the 2021 Census of Population and Housing. A change of data source in estimation of own-account firewood production also had a large impact in this group of revision steps, revising the estimates downwards in the entire time series.
The list of revision steps is extensive. We point out the ones with the larger impact on GDP:
- new guidance on per diem payments,
- updated adjustment of expenditure of the self-employed that belongs to intermediate consumption,
- classification of contributions for renewable energy sources to taxes (in a longer time series),
- reclassification of subsidies on renewable energy sources from subsidies on products to other subsidies on production and their introduction in a longer time series, reclassification of part of transport subsidies in the opposite sense,
- change in data source for estimation of own-account production of firewood,
- alignment of service lives of fixed assets with new European recommendations,
- update of household dwelling service estimates with the latest population and housing census data,
- mark-up for adjustment of changes in inventories in finished goods and work-in-progress from costs to basic prices,
- update of adjustments for misreporting in output and intermediate consumption,
- change in cash to accrual adjustment for greenhouse gas emission trading scheme allowances,
- revision of own-account software production of the self-employed,
- revision of own-account construction of the self-employed,
- updated classification of individual consumption by purpose (COICOP 2018),
- revision of the balance of payments.
The estimates for recent years were affected also by the routine update of data sources.
Revision steps had a similar impact on GDP in different years; some steps increased it, others decreased it. The total impact was a decrease in nominal GDP level in most of the time series from 1995 on, whereas the economic growth curve remained similar as before the revision.
The average change of the level of GDP at current prices in the period 1995–2022 period was −0.7% and the average change of economic growth was 0.0%.
The next major revision is planned for 2029, when, in addition to the findings of the new round of data verification, a new methodological basis will be prepared, which will upgrade or replace the current European regulation (European System of Accounts 2010). The classification of economic activities will also be updated.
Tables with the latest data are available in the SiStat Database.
Value added by production activity and GDP, Slovenia, 2023
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Expenditure breakdown of GDP, Slovenia, 2023
For components marked with 1) the contribution to GDP growth is presented instead of the annual volume change. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Income breakdown of GDP, Slovenia, 2023
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Gross domestic product – revision 2024, Slovenia
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METHODOLOGICAL NOTE
Additional explanations are available in the methodological explanations.
When making use of the data and information of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, always add: "Source: SURS". More: Copyright.
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