BRATISLAVA, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Slovakia's economy grew at its slowest pace in seven years in the last quarter of 2008, data showed on Friday, as global slump in foreign demand ended the euro zone newcomer's period of record expansion.
The Slovak economy grew by a real 2.7 percent annually in the fourth quarter of 2008, slowing from 7.0 percent in the third quarter, Slovak Statistics Office said, below the forecast of 3.0 percent by analysts in a Reuters poll.
"Today's preliminary data confirmed that the period of extra-strong growth of the Slovak economy has ended," said ING Bank analyst Eduard Hagara.
He said a breakdown of the data would be published in a month, but it was already apparent that weak foreign demand was behind the drop in growth. Like other EU countries, Slovakia has been hit by the global economic turmoil as its export-reliant economy suffers from the impact of weakening demand in its main western markets, most notably Germany.
The Statistics Office also said GDP growth was 6.4 percent for the whole of 2008, slowing down from the record 10.4 percent growth in 2007. The economy is set to slow down sharply this year because of the impact of the global financial crisis [ID:nLD535215].
Slovakia, which joined the euro in January, will be one of the region's few economies to escape recession but still its growth is seen decelerating sharply this year to 2.4 percent this year, according to the finance ministry's latest estimate.
"After eight plentiful years we must prepare for a significant cooling of growth this year," said Volksbank chief analyst Vladimir Vano. "But no grim macro-data should be expected in the first quarter of this year."
Slovakia's economy, rallying on car and electronics industries, should still maintain the fastest growth pace in the single currency area, according to European Commission forecasts, although a further deterioration in major EU economies could put further pressure on growth.
The Statistics Office will publish final data on March 5. (Reporting by Martin Santa, editing by Stephen Nisbet)