The country's two primary economic areas are still industry and agriculture.

Unlike the government of the Czech Republic, Slovak officials were initially not enthusiastic about free-market reforms and also did not oppose having former Communists as members of the new government. Foreign investment has tended to favour the neighbouring Czech Republic at Slovakia's expense. Nevertheless, a group of Slovak-Americans have established an American Enterprise Fund in Bratislava to assist Slovak entrepreneurs. Criticisms that the Slovakian economy was still very much state-dominated helped bring about the downfall of the first post-Communist national government in early 1994, and the succeeding administration undertook a more aggressive policy of economic reform. Slovakia had an annual gross national product of US$11.9, billion in 1994 (1992-1994 prices) or US$2,230 per capita. The national budget for the fiscal year 1994 included revenue of US$4 billion and expenditure of US$4.5 billion.

Agriculture

Slovakian agriculture is limited to around one-third of the country's territory, with some 1.48 million hectares (3.7 million acres) of arable land, and contributes around 7 per cent of the gross domestic product. Wheat, barley, maize, and sugar beet are the principal crops in the fertile lowland regions; the poorer mountain soils support rye, oats, potatoes and other vegetables, and flax, as well as sheep. Average annual agricultural production in the early 1990s included about 2.1 million tonnes of wheat, 874,000 tonnes of barley, 521,000 tonnes of maize, 96,000 tonnes of rye, 1.1 million tonnes of sugar beet, and 399,000 tonnes of potatoes. Livestock in the early 1990s numbered 2 million pigs, 916,000 cows, 397,000 sheep, and 13.9 million chickens.

Forestry

Commercial forestry in Slovakia has suffered from considerable pollution damage to local forests. Roundwood removals in the early 1990s amounted annually to some 3.7 million cu m (130.6 million cu ft).

Mining

Minerals extracted in Slovakia include lignite and brown coal, lead, zinc, copper, iron ore and magnesite. Despite government efforts to curb pollution, coal resources remain economically important. Annual production in the early 1990s included 2.8 million tonnes of brown coal, 1.34 million tonnes of lignite, 1.63 million tonnes of iron ore, 11,313 tonnes of copper concentrates, and 6.8 million tonnes of zinc concentrates.

Manufacturing

The legacy of Communist-style inefficient heavy industry, including substantial arms plants, has handicapped Slovakian manufacturing growth. Between 1991 and 1992, Slovak industrial production declined nearly 50 per cent.