Recession hits Slovenia in Q1, budget gap to widen

"Slovenia fell into recession in the first quarter, data on Tuesday showed, and the government forecast a budget shortfall of 6 percent of GDP this year.

Analysts said the figures released by the statistics office did not bode well for the country that was the fastest growing euro zone member in the past two years, but a mild improvement of quarterly GDP data was still possible later in the year.

The office said gross domestic product (GDP) had dropped 8.5 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, following a 0.8 percent fall in the last quarter of 2008. It said April exports fell 29.7 percent year-on-year and imports shrank 34.9 percent."

Source: guardian.co.uk