March 12 (SeeNews) - Slovenia's economy minister Zdravko Pocivalsek said on Thursday that the government's Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development, UMAR, will halve its forecast for the country's 2020 economic growth to reflect the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, local media reported.
Pocivalsek made the announcement while addressing the committee in charge of economy at Slovenia's parliament, state broadcaster RTV Slovenija reported.
In its autumn economic forecast published in September, UMAR said it expects the country's economic growth to quicken to 3.0% this year from 2.8% estimated for 2019.
The 2020 forecast was already expected to be revised downwards last month when official figures showed that Slovenia's economic growth has slowed to 2.4% in 2019 (below UMAR's forecast) from 4.1% in 2018.
UMAR will announce its revised 2020 GDP growth projection in its spring economic forecasts due to be published in late March or early April.
Slovenia has reported that 84 people have tested positive for the coronavirus infection by 9am local time on Thursday.