This chapter serves as a brief roadmap for U.S. companies to enter and/or expand into Slovakia’s market.

Slovakia is a country of 5.4 million people and is strategically located at the geographic heart of Europe. The Slovak market is dominated by the automotive, electronics, engineering, tourism, and service industries. In addition to its strategic location and educated population, Slovakia’s stable macroeconomic policies have made it a good place for U.S. exporters to do business.

Slovakia is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the European Union (EU), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the United Nations (UN), the Council of Europe, the Visegrad Group (V4), the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA), the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the International Finance Cooperation, the World Trade Organization (WTO), UNESCO, INTERPOL, International Energy Agency (IEA), and other multi-lateral organizations. It is also a member of the EU Schengen Agreement, which allows for the free movement of people.

Slovakia adopted the euro (EUR) as its currency on January 1, 2009, becoming the 16th member of the European Monetary Union, which facilitated free trade through lower transaction costs, higher pricing transparency, and greater monetary stability. Slovakia has a stable sovereign credit rating and its financial outlook, though lowered as a result of supply global chain issues and the conflict in Ukraine, remains positive according to Moody’s and S&P.

Registered unemployment nationwide has decreased from 6.2 percent in December 2022 to 5.12 percent at the end of June 2023, but varies widely from region to region. Inflation in 2022 was 12.8 percent. While real GDP growth was 1.2 percent in 2022 (y-o-y), the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic projects a GDP growth rate of approximately 1.7 percent in 2023.

U.S. exports to Slovakia in 2022 totaled USD 687 million according to Eurostat, and U.S. imports from Slovakia in 2022 totaled USD 6.53 billion, according to U.S. census data. As of 2021, total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to Slovakia stood at more than USD 57.23 billion, with U.S. FDI estimated at approximately USD 176 million in 2021 (the latest geographically delineated data available) by the National Bank of Slovakia.  For the same time period, total Slovak direct investment to the U.S. stood at USD 21 million. The primary U.S. imports from Slovakia are Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche sports utility vehicles that are manufactured at the Volkswagen plant in Bratislava. Slovakia’s top thirteen trading partners in 2022 were Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Austria, France, Italy, China, Russia, Netherlands, South Korea, Romania and United States in order of highest Slovak total trade values.

Political Environment

Visit State Department’s website for background on Slovakia’s political and economic environment.