Page 66 - BNE_magazine_10_2020

66 I New Europe in Numbers bne October 2020
Turkey GDP growth
Turkey takes GDP hit of 9.9% in Q2
GDP growth rates in the second quarter of 2020
% change over the previous quarter, based on seasonally adjusted data
Turkey’s GDP took an official hit of 9.9% y/y in the coronavirus- scarred second quarter beating the expectations of most analysts who anticipated that it would fare a percentage point or two worse.
The contraction in GDP followed a gain of 4.5% in the first quarter,
a robust figure that partly derived from the Erdogan administration’s decision to go for another wave of cheap credit, despite the fact that it was such policies that caused the August 2018 currency crisis that brought on last year’s Turkish recession.
Hungary's budget on track for record shortfall
Hungary's general government deficit, excluding local councils,
was HUF96bn (€273mn) in August, a major improvement from the HUF330bn shortfall in July and the HUF780bn deficit in June, according to figures from the finance ministry on September 9.
Despite the improving data, the deficit at the end of August reached HUF2.26 trillion, which is six times higher than the government’s initial target of HUF367bn and four-fold the HUF511bn shortfall in the base period. The deficit target was revised from 1% to 2.7% of GDP in April and later to 3.8% as economic outlook deteriorated, but even those outlooks seemed overly optimistic.
Slovenia posts second highest monthly trade surplus in 10 years
Slovenia posted a trade surplus of €200.5mn in July, which is the second highest monthly surplus in the last 10 years, after that in September 2017, the statistics office said on September 9.
Slovenia’s exports amounted to over €2.9bn in July, down 2.9% year on year while imports declined 10.9% y/y to €2.7bn, data showed. Compared with the average monthly values in 2019, the exports in July were 5.1% higher, while imports were 3.6% lower.
Croatia had second-deepest GDP contraction across the EU in 2Q20
Croatia experienced the second-deepest quarter-on-quarter contraction in GDP across the European Union in the second quarter of the year as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and lockdown took its toll on the economy.
The single deepest q/q contraction was in Spain at -18.5%, which was
a 22.1% y/y contraction, followed by Croatia with a contraction of 14.9% q/q and 15.1% y/y. Both countries have large tourism sectors, which has been hit hard by the pandemic. GDP contractions were recorded across the board in the 27-member EU, dropping by 11.4% q/q, and 11.8% q/q in the eurozone.
www.bne.eu