Confidence in Slovakian economy grows, index shows

The Slovakian economy is showing positive signs following nine months of decline, new figures reveal.

According to the Statistics Office''s Index of Economic Sentiment, people''s expectations of the country''s economy began to improve during June, increasing by 1.3 points from May''s 67.6.

The report said that the positive development occurred due to an increase in confidence within industry, services and consumers.

Additionally, the index showed that the consumer climate in Slovakia is continuing to improve.

The index suggested that Slovakian consumers'' perspective of employment, financial status, predicted savings and general economic situation are all becoming more positive.

Further findings showed that confidence in services saw an improvement in June, with a monthly rise of 4.7 points to minus 19.

Confidence in industry also increased, up by 13 points month-on-month, because of predictions surrounding industrial-production growth during the next three months.

Elsewhere confidence in construction and retail trade both dropped slightly during June.

Slovakia''s central bank recently predicted that the state''s economy will contract by 4.2 per cent during 2009.