Economy of Slovenia

Ljubljana – Fortenova, a group based in Croatia’s Zagreb, published on Wednesday a takeover bid for the remaining 724,764 shares of Slovenian retail group Mercator it does not already own. It is offering to pay EUR 36 per share in cash.

The bid is open for 29 days, that is until 23 June, unless it is extended, the group said in the Slovenian newspaper Delo on Wednesday.

Dubai – Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek met Emirati Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber in Abud Dhabi on Monday as he started an official visit to the United Arab Emirates. The pair agreed that bilateral cooperation could improve and expressed support for such efforts, the Economy Ministry said.

Ljubljana – A virtual AmCham Slovenia business breakfast on Wednesday discussed economic recovery in 2021 to hear that the Covid-19 crisis has hit the Slovenian economy hard. It has nevertheless been kept alive by state aid and is waiting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, which could happen in the spring.

Ljubljana – Slovenia ranks 31st among 132 countries in the latest Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI), same as last year. It ranked 29th in 2019 and 25th when the index was first introduced in 2013. After the spring lockdown, the Slovenian economy recovered the fastest in the East Europe region.

Ljubljana – Atlantic Droga Kolinska, Belinka Perkemija, TKK and iSystem Labs were honoured on Wednesday as best foreign investors for their excellent business performance and contribution to the development of the Slovenian economy. The awards are given out annually by the SPIRIT investment promotion agency and the economy ministry.

In the latest issue of The Economic Mirror publication, IMAD says that the year-on-year growth of Slovenia's GDP in the first nine months of 2019 was 2.7%, which is a significant slowdown compared to 2018, while close to its autumn projection for the whole year (2.8%).

The Finance Ministry announced this on Monday.

As neighboring countries, Italy and Slovenia share important bilateral relations: from trade and investment to tourist flows. In fact, Italy is Slovenia's second commercial partner with a 13.5% market share, whereas Slovenia is the main Italian partner from the former Yugoslavia plus Albania area, absorbing over a third of its total trade.

Despite its many problems and weaknesses, the European Union remains a success story particularly in terms of trade. It is the largest economy in the world. Although its projected growth is slow, it remains the largest trading zone with an average GDP per capita that is well above 23,000 euros. The value of exports between EU member states stood at 2,978 billion euros as of 2016.

The trade balance deficit went up 12.3 percent in the first five months of 2018 as against the similar period of 2017, to over 5 billion euro, a release of the National Institute of Statistics (INS) sent to AGERPRES on Tuesday informs.