"Tatra Tiger" is a

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

that refers to the economy of Slovakia in period 2002 – 2007, following the ascendance of a right-leaning

coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

in September 2002 which engaged in a program of liberal economic reforms. The name "Tatra Tiger" derives from the local Tatra mountain range. In 2004 and 2005,

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

had one of the highest

gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performanc ...

growth rates in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

after some of the

Baltic countries The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

, reaching 6%. In 2006, the year-over-year growth amounted to an unexpected 9.8% in the 3rd quarter, which helped to increase the overall annual economic growth expectation for 2006 from 6–6.5% to 8.2%. This 9.8% growth (a low estimate) can be partly ascribed to the launch of production at a new Peugeot SA plant. The growth came as a surprise to local analysts, given that another big foreign investor, Kia, launched its production in late 2006. In 4Q of 2007, the growth was 14.3%. However, public polling shows that despite the resultant high growth rates, the public does not universally approve of the reforms, because they are associated with a drastic loss of government programs (reform of the previously government-run health system, complete reform of the pension system, etc.), the replacement of progressive taxation with a

flat tax A flat tax (short for flat-rate tax) is a tax with a single rate on the taxable amount, after accounting for any deductions or exemptions from the tax base. It is not necessarily a fully proportional tax. Implementations are often progressi ...

, rapid changes of laws and other legal regulations, and rising property prices. Moreover, unemployment jumped to very high levels immediately after the reforms began in 1998, although it decreased back to its 1998 level in 2006 and even below later on. However, critics point out that the drop in unemployment was caused by the outflow of labor force abroad, after Slovakia joined the

in 2004, and thus the level of unemployment was not reflecting the real economic situation in Slovakia. In the first quarter of 2009 the growth of GDP was −5.7% but in 2010 it was 4.8% for the same quarter. In the period 2005–2011 Slovakia's GDP increased by 38.3% which was the highest growth of all EU countries.Epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu. 11 March 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2011
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Statistics

Annual GDP growth rate

GDP per capita

international dollar The international dollar (int'l dollar or intl dollar, symbols Int'l$., Intl$., Int$), also known as Geary–Khamis dollar (symbols G–K$ or GK$), is a hypothetical unit of currency that has the same purchasing power parity that the U.S. doll ...

s, at

purchasing power parity Purchasing power parity (PPP) is a measure of the price of specific goods in different countries and is used to compare the absolute purchasing power of the countries' currency, currencies. PPP is effectively the ratio of the price of a market bask ...

(PPP) and Nominal GDP per capita. Numbers in brackets show the respective country's GDP per capita as a percentage of the

average (also measured at PPP).

References

"A new Direction for Slovak politics?" (preview)
''Foreign Report'', Jane's Intelligence, December 12, 2005
Post Report: Slovak Republic
, U.S. Department of State, 12 May 2005 * "Slovakia's awakening: 'Tatra Tiger' is born", by Matthew Reynolds, ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', December 29, 2004
Once a Backwater, Slovakia Surges
by Matthew Reynolds, ''

'', December 28, 2004 {{Economic miracle and tiger economy Tiger economies 2000s in economic history Economy of Slovakia 2000s in Slovakia Economic booms

Statistics

Annual GDP growth rate

GDP per capita

See also

References