Given the relatively high\ndegree of external openness of the Slovak economy, the development of the\nSlovak economy is to a significant extent related to developments on foreign\nmarkets. Strong interlinkages may therefore also entail certain risks in relation\nto developments in the external environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The revised data of the\nStatistical Office of the SR showed a year-on-year increase in the export\nperformance of the Slovak economy. According to the data of the Statistical\nOffice of the Slovak Republic, total exports of goods in 2018 increased by 7.2%\ncompared to 2017, to the level of EUR 79,144.5 million. Imports of goods also\nincreased by 8.6% year-on-year. The total volume of imports amounted to EUR\n76,835.0 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The development of\nSlovakia’s export performance in 2018 was largely influenced by the external\nenvironment due to Slovakia’s high degree of openness. The openness of the\nSlovak economy reached 190.2%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Small and medium-sized\nenterprises (SMEs) play a key role in the Slovak economy, especially in job\ncreation, value added and regional development. Nevertheless, Slovakia’s\nforeign trade is dominated by large enterprises. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The volume of total SME\nexports was at the level of EUR 18,702.8 million, which represents a\nyear-on-year increase of 3.6%. SMEs accounted for 27.5% of the total value of\nexported goods (i.e. 0.7 p.p. less than in 2017). In terms of individual size\ncategories of enterprises, the volume or value of exported goods increased in\nall monitored categories of enterprises. In terms of the number of exporting\nbusinesses, the share of SMEs was 98.5% in the year under review (i.e. 30,484\nenterprises). Of the total number of small and medium-sized enterprises\n(including natural persons – entrepreneurs), 5.4% of SMEs exported goods in\n2018. By legal form, the representation of legal entities is predominant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The territorial structure\nof SME exports showed that SME exports are particularly concentrated in the EU\nmarket (91.2% of the total SME export volume). The volume of SME exports to\nnon-EU countries amounted to EUR 1,646.7 million, i.e. it reached the share of\n8.8% of the total SME exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With regard to exports,\nSMEs were among the EU’s most important business partners in 2018: Germany, the\nCzech Republic, Hungary and Poland. Among the top ten EU countries, exports to\nGermany and the Czech Republic grew fastest year-on-year. Among the most\nimportant non-EU business partners were: Switzerland, Ukraine, Russia, the\nUnited States and Serbia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The commodity structure\nof SME exports also showed exceptional concentration. The top five export\ncommodity groups of SMEs accounted for 70.2% of the total export volume of\nSMEs. Specifically, the commodity groups were: machinery, apparatus, electronic\nequipment; basic metals and articles thereof; vehicles, aircraft, transport\nequipment; plastics, rubber and articles thereof; and products of the chemical\nindustry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sectoral structure of\nSME exports highlighted the importance of industry (49.3%) and trade (34.1%),\nwhich accounted for more than three-quarters of total SME exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SMEs based in Bratislava\n(32.8%), Trnava (13.9%), Nitra (12.2%), \u017dilina and Tren\u010d\u00edn regions (9.7%) had a\nsignificant position in the export of SMEs. Small and medium-sized enterprises\nbased in the Ko\u0161ice (7.1%) and Bansk\u00e1 Bystrica Regions (6.9%) had the lowest\nshare in exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Almost half of the SME\nexport volume in 2018 was the result of activities of entities with foreign\ncapital. SMEs with international ownership accounted for 14.0% of SME exports\nand those with private domestic ownership accounted for 36.5%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The import volume of SMEs\nin 2018 stood at EUR 26,910.3 million, which represents a year-on-year increase\nin import volume by 4.5%. Within the size category of small and medium-sized\nenterprises, the most dynamic year-on-year growth in import volumes was\nrecorded in the category of medium-sized enterprises (up 5.3%). For small and\nmicro-enterprises, import volumes increased by 5.1% and 2.9%, respectively. The\nshare of SMEs in total imports decreased by 1.3 p.p. year-on-year to 38.6%. In\nthe foreign trade balance of small and medium-sized enterprises, the trend of\nincrease in the passive balance continued, which was at the level of EUR\n8,207.5 million in the year under review. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The territorial structure\nof SME imports has shown that they are predominantly oriented towards the EU\nsingle market. With regard to SMEs, these were among the EU’s most important\nimport partners in 2018: the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland. The non-EU’s\nmost important import partners included: China, the Republic of Korea, the\nUnited States, Turkey and Vietnam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similar to the commodity\nstructure of SME exports, SME imports are highly concentrated. The top five\nimport commodity groups of SMEs accounted for 68.3% of total SME imports.\nSpecifically, the commodity groups were: machinery, apparatus, electronic\nequipment; vehicles, aircraft, transport equipment; basic metals and articles\nthereof; chemical products and plastics, rubber and articles thereof. The\nvolume of SME imports in the industry (25.8%) and trade (55.6%) sectors\naccounted for more than three-quarters of total SME imports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
SMEs based in Bratislava\n(45.0%), \u017dilina (11.2%), Nitra (10.4%) and Trnava Regions (9.4%) had a\nsignificant position in the import of SMEs. Small and medium-sized enterprises\nbased in the Ko\u0161ice, Pre\u0161ov and Bansk\u00e1 Bystrica Regions accounted for the\nlowest share of SME imports (all 5.4%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When comparing export\nperformance with other Member States, Slovakia ranks last. Slovakia also lags\nbehind EU countries in the number of exporting and importing SMEs in the\nindustrial sector. This is most pronounced in the share of exporting and\nimporting SMEs in the industrial sector to\/from non-EU countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Given the relatively high degree of external openness of the Slovak economy, the development of the Slovak economy is to a significant extent related to developments on foreign markets. Strong interlinkages may therefore also entail certain risks in relation to developments in the external environment. The revised data of the Statistical Office of the SR […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5839","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"yoast_head":"\n