Summer economic growth came as a pleasant surprise.

It has been the fastest quarterly growth since 2015, observers say.Slovakia's gross domestic product in permanent prices grew by 4.

6 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2018. After seasonal adjustment, the economy went up by 4.5 percent in annual terms and by 1.

1 percent in quarterly terms, according to the data published by the Statistics Office on November 14.As for common prices, GDP grew by 7 percent y-o-y in the third quarter.It has been the quickest growth in quarterly terms since the end of 2015, according to Katariacutena Muchovaacute, analyst with Slovenskaacute Sporite#318#328a.

"The economic growth in the third quarter came as a positive surprise," #317ubomiacuter Korscaron#328aacutek, analyst with UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia, wrote in a memo, adding that unlike most of the eurozone members, the growth dynamics did not slow down.Household consumption and investments contributed to the growthThough the Statistics Office will publish the detailed results on December 7, Muchovaacute predicts that the growth was driven mostly by domestic demand, particularly household consumption and investments.

"The strong household consumption was positively impacted by a favourable development in the labour market, including the drop in the unemployment rate and growth in employment and salaries, which contributes to the increase in the disposable income of households," Muchovaacute wrote in a memo.Moreover, the acceleration in the construction output in the third quarter of 2018 implies the positive impact of investments on the economic growth, Muchovaacute added.

Korscaron#328aacutek predicts that the Slovak economy benefited from the continuing restart of the automotive industry, which grew at a two-digit pace."However, the industry as a whole brought inconsistent results," Korscaron#328aacutek wrote in a memo, explaining that most of the industries...

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