Infaltion in Slovakia fell to its lowest level since September 2005 in May.

The annualised rate fell to 2.2 percent from 2.3 percent in April, the country's Statistics Office reported.

Slowing economic growth and rising unemployment are having a negativbe impact on domestic consumption in the country, which switched to the euro at the start of this year.

The economy was the EU's fastest growing at the end of 2007. It is likely that it will shrink by a minimum of 3.5 percent this year, the Finance Ministry said. The unemployment rate hit a three-year high of 10.9 percent in April as falling sales prompted job cuts, Bloomberg reported.
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"Inflation is still the same story," Juraj Valachy, an economist at Tatra Banka AS in Bratislava, told the news agency. "With the country slipping into a recession, the weaker consumer power prevents shops from raising prices."