UPDATE 1 - Slovenia's Q3 GDP growth slowdown meets expectations - Erste

The country's statistical office released earlier in the day third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) figures showing weaker annual growth compared with 2.5% in the second quarter and 3.3% in the first three months of the current year.

"Looking at the detailed structure revealed solid private consumption footprint (4.3% y/y), while investments hit the brake adding modest 1.2% y/y. Inventories though added 0.7pp to the headline figure," Erste said in an instant comment.

Net exports expectedly deteriorated, taking away 1.2pp from the headline figure, with imports growing faster than exports (up by an annual 6.7% and 4.5%, respectively), the analysts said.

In seasonally-adjusted terms, the third-quarter GDP rose by 2.0% on the year and advanced by 0.8% over the second quarter, the official data showed.

"As outlook goes, we anticipate no major change from present course, namely domestic demand would remain the main growth driver, while net exports contribution should remain negative," Erste said, adding it expects Slovenia's GDP growth to slow down to 2.8% in 2019 and to 2.7% in 2020.