Slovakia has pursued a difficult transition from a centrally planned economy to a modern market economy. Major privatizations are nearly complete, the banking sector is almost completely in foreign hands, and foreign investment has picked up. Solid domestic demand boosted economic growth to 4.1% in 2002. Strong export growth, in turn, pushed economic growth to a still-strong 4.2% in 2003 and 5.4% in 2004, despite a downturn in household consumption. Multiple reasons entailed a GDP growth of 6% in 2005, the 4th highest rate in the EU (after the three Baltic states). GDP growth is expected to reach 8.2% in 2006 (the year-to-year growth amounted to unexpected 9.8% in the 3th quarter of 2006 and stayed high at 9.5% year-to-year change in the 4th quarter of 2006), and 8.0% in 2007. The 9.8% growth came as a surprise to local analysts (6 % were expected), given that the big foreign investor Kia is going to launch its production only in late 2006. In 2006, Slovakia reached the highest economic growth among the members of OECD.

Unemployment, peaking at 19.2% at the end of 2001, decreased again to some 8.9% (March 2007). In addition to the economic growth, migration of workers to the Czech Republic and European Union also contributed to this reduction. The unemployment rate still remains among the highest in the EU. Inflation dropped from an average annual rate of 12.0% in 2000 to just 3.3% in the election year 2002, but it rose again in 2003-2004 because of increases in taxes and regulated prices. It reached 3.7 % in 2005. Slovakia plans to adopt the Euro currency on 1 January 2009 and has already entered the ERM II for this purpose (Slovak euro coins).

Slovakia is among the most attractive countries in the EU for foreign investors mainly because of its low labour costs (a 2005 survey by the prominent consultant firm Deloitte shows that Slovakia has the lowest labour costs in the European Union) and low tax rates. This issue has sparked criticism from some other EU countries, which accuse Slovak government of social and tax dumping. In recent years, Slovakia has been pursuing a policy of encouraging foreign investment. However, that has not shown any benefits so far in innovation capabilities within the country. Despite a sufficient number of researchers and a solid secondary educational system, Slovakia (as well as some other post-communist countries) still faces many challenges in the field of modern knowledge economy. The business and public Research and development expenditures are deeply below EU average.