Mit - Index

Mit - UVK_Sinfo_2008_05_št.10 - Index

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has not turned down this year, but sharply upwards,” Karmen
Hren, who is responsible for national accounts at the office, told
reporters in Ljubljana. She admitted, however, that Q1 growth
was not as high as it had been between the second quarter of
2006 and the third quarter of 2007. This was also highlighted
by the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development
(IMAD), a government think-tank, which said growth would slow
down. The slowdown is already evident, for example in slower
growth in manufacturing and exports, IMAD director Boštjan
Vasle said in a statement. Hren singled out robust growth in
gross fixed capital formation as the main reason for the growth
spurt in the first quarter. Gross capital formation increased by
17.6% year-on-year, contributing 5.4 percentage points to real
GDP growth, Hren said, noting that investments had again
rated more prominently than exports in the structure of GDP.
Gross fixed capital formation rose by 17.1%, mainly on
account of the 25.1% rise in investment in buildings and
structures. Investment in residential buildings was up 16.3%
and investment in non-residential buildings up 28.5%.
The growth of investment in machinery and equipment
was more modest at 7.5% and on a par with the growth
at the end of 2007. Exports, which had been a key factor of
economic growth in the past, increased by 6.3%. “Exports
continue to grow, but at a somewhat slower pace,” Hren said.
Imports were up by 9.4%, which is on a par with growth in Q4
of 2007. As imports increased more than exports, this reflected
negatively on GDP volume growth (2.3 percentage points).
Final consumption showed no major changes, adding 3.4%
at the annual level. Expenditure of households and of general
government increased by 3.4%, which means growth in
general government expenditure rose compared to 2007.
Total value added increased by as much as GDP (5.4%). The
biggest increase was registered in construction (27.4%),
which recovered after a slowdown in the second half of 2007.
“Construction contributed 1.5 percentage points to GDP
growth on the production side,” Hren said. Value added in
manufacturing, which has the biggest share in GDP, increased
by 1.9%, which Hren said was considerably lower than last year
and the lowest on record for the last three years. Employment
continued to grow at accelerated rates for the tenth quarter in
a row. Q1 employment was 3.1% up year-on-year. Construction
recorded the biggest increase (13.5%), followed by transport
(6.6%) and the business sector (6.1%). GDP adjusted seasonally
and for working days was up 2.2% on the last quarter of 2007
and 5.7% on the first quarter of 2007. Q1 GDP at current prices
amounted to EUR 8.5bn and was up 10.7% year-on-year.
PROPERTY REGISTER SET uP
The Surveying and Mapping Authority has set up a property
register, a public record of real estate on Slovenian territory that
will be accessible to all users free of charge. The data has been
collected through a property census, land registry and other
public databases. The authority will provide web access to the
register by the end of this year, and soon afterwards also enable
owners to access the property they own with digital certificates.
Franc Ravnihar, the Head of the Real Estate Office, told the press
in Ljubljana on 6 June that the authority would also make it
possible for owners to submit new data or changes concerning
their properties over the Internet. Bernarda Berden, who heads
the department responsible for the property register, said that
the register would be accessible to all individuals and legal entities
free of charge, except when used for commercial purposes. The
register contains data on some 6 million properties in Slovenia;
4.6 million entail only land (even when the building on this land
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has another owner), 1.1 million are properties entailing the land
and building owned by a single owner, while some 250,000 are
properties for which the owner of the building is known, while
the ownership of the land is unclear. The register is technical,
rather than administrative, which means it will contain data on all
properties because the registry of new properties will not depend
on administrative procedures. This will make the maintenance
of the register quite cheap and procedures swift. The register
is an open system that can be supplemented by various users,
according to Ales Seliskar, General Director of the Surveying
and Mapping Authority. He added that the mass valuation of
the properties could be implemented next year. Asked about
property taxation, he said that the incumbent government had
decided to put off the introduction of property tax and that this
would be a matter for the new government to tackle. The cost of
the property census, launched in 2006, was EUR 10.92m, while
an additional EUR 497,000 will be spent on the register.
APRIL TRAdE GAP dOWN 20% YEAR-ON-
YEAR
In April, Slovenia exported EUR goods worth 1.83bn, while
imports amounted to EUR 1.99bn. The trade gap amounted
to EUR 163.3m, which was some 20% less than the month
before, the Statistics Office said on 9 June. Imports in April
went up by 15.7% year-on-year, while exports increased by
18.1%, according to a preliminary report. The export-import
ratio went up from 89.2% to 91.8%. In the first four months of
2008, exports went up by 9.2% to EUR 6.84bn, while imports
increased by 12.5% to EUR 7.62bn, compared to the same
period last year. The export-import ratio amounted to 89.7% for
the first third of the year, with the gap topping EUR 784.3m.
From January to April, Slovenia imported over EUR 6bn worth
of goods from EU members, almost 12% up year-on-year.
Imports from other countries increased by 14.7% to EUR 1.61bn.
Meanwhile, Slovenia exported EUR 4.85bn of goods to EU
members in the first four months of 2008, and almost EUR 2bn
to other countries.
GAZPROM SAYS SOuTH STREAM
PIPELINE WILL CROSS SLOvENIA
Aleksei Miller, the CEO of Russian energy giant Gazprom, said
on 10 June that Gazprom had finally decided on the route of
its South Stream gas pipeline, revealing that on the way to Italy
the pipeline would also cross Slovenia. Slovenian Minister of the
Economy Andrej Vizjak denied that any concrete agreements had
been reached on the deal. According to media reports, Miller
said at the European business congress in Deauville that the
pipeline would run from Russia under the Black Sea to Bulgaria,
from where its northwestern route would cross Serbia, Hungary,
Slovenia and Austria. The pipeline’s southwestern route would
reach Italy through Greece. The inclusion of Austria and Slovenia
into the project, which is considered as a rival to the EU- and USbacked
Nabucco pipeline, is said to have been agreed at the Saint
Petersburg International Economic Forum. Slovenian Minister of
the Economy Andrej Vizjak responded to the news later today by
saying that Slovenia had not yet reached any concrete agreements
with Gazprom on the deal, but added that, in principle, Slovenia
was very much interested in taking part in the project. He
explained that, before any contracts are signed, certain details
need to be resolved. Slovenian representatives discussed these
details during Miller’s last visit to Slovenia in mid-April, Vizjak
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