STRUCTURAL ASPECTS OF THE EXTERNAL ECONOM IC BALANCE OF THE SLOVAK-REPUBLIC

The paper is focused on the analysis of the goods structure of the for eign trade of the SR from several aspects. Its interest, above all, wa s to identify those sides of the foreign-trade exchange which create b asis for the establishment of non-balanced situations in the trade bal ance of the SR. The most complicated problem of the Slovak economy - w ith the immediate influence on the development of the external economi c balance - is in the low rate of the processing of exported industria l products. According to the preliminary calculations this reaches onl y 40% of the average processing rate of imported industrial products. To create conditions for the inevitable qualitative changes in the str ucture of the SR export requires exceptionally important economic prob lem. It can be solved only at the significant involvement of external resources (financial, technical, and technological ones) into the solu tion of problems connected with the total restructuring of the Slovak economy.