Ljubljana  - Slovenia's economy picked up slightly in the second quarter to an annual growth rate of 5.5 per cent, despite slower rises in consumer spending and construction, official data showed Thursday.

Slovenia, an export-driven economy and the only formerly communist eurozone member, recorded 5.4-per-cent growth in the first quarter.

Trade accounted for 0.3 percentage points of the second-quarter gain after holding back gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the first three months of 2008, the national statistics office said.

Slovenian imports are growing nearly twice as quickly as exports this year, the office said this week. About 70 per cent of Slovenia's trade is with other European Union countries.

The economic data fed into campaigning for September 21 parliamentary elections in the Alpine nation of 2 million.

Prime Minister Janez Jansa told a rally in the capital Ljubljana that the figures showed there were practically no signs that the economy was cooling fast, the state news agency STA reported.

Critics say declining exports and a rising government deficit signal that Slovenia will not escape the global economic slump. (dpa)