Charts of the Week

Real goods exports and imports declined in the third quarter compared with the second quarter (seasonally adjusted); both were higher year-on-year. Following strong quarter-on-quarter growth in the first half of the year, real exports declined by 1.1% in the third quarter. Exports declined both to EU Member States, particularly Italy and Germany, and to non-EU countries. The latter was mainly due to lower exports of cars with internal combustion engines to the United Kingdom, which had temporarily increased sharply in the first half of the year as their production was being phased out at Slovenia’s largest car manufacturer. Lower exports of other machinery and equipment, other chemical products and materials, particularly iron and steel, also contributed significantly to the quarterly decline in exports. Meanwhile, exports of pharmaceutical products and road vehicles continued to increase. The latter rose for the third consecutive quarter, with the largest increase recorded in exports to France. Goods imports declined even more markedly (by 5.9%), mainly due to lower imports of consumer goods (all seasonally adjusted). 
Despite the quarter-on-quarter decline, year-on-year export growth remained high (7.6%) and broad-based in the third quarter, supported by strong growth in the first half of the year and one additional working day, while import growth slowed noticeably (to 1.3%). As in the second quarter, exports of medicinal and pharmaceutical products and road vehicles, particularly passenger cars, made the largest contributions to year-on-year export growth. 
Export orders remained close to their highest level in the past three years in October, although strong demand has led to longer delivery times for raw materials. 

The number of registered unemployed has been declining faster since August than in the first half of the year, falling by 1.5% in October (seasonally adjusted). The decline was mainly driven by fewer first-time jobseekers registering as unemployed and fewer registrations due to job loss. According to seasonally adjusted data, the number of the latter was the lowest since the beginning of 2023. At the end of October, 43,032 persons were registered as unemployed, 5.8% fewer than a year earlier. The year-on-year decline continued among young people (aged 15–29), the long-term unemployed and those aged 50 and over. In October, the number of unemployed young people was 8.4% lower year-on-year, the number of long-term unemployed was 3.8% lower, and the number of unemployed persons aged 50 and over was 5.9% lower.