Mag. Mitja Gaspari appointed new Minister of Finance

Ljubljana, 10 June - Delegates to the Slovenian Assembly elected Mag. Mitja Gaspari a new Minister of Finance in the Cabinet of Dr. Drnovšek. Gaspari, who used to be employed by the World Bank in Washington, was appointed to the post of Janez Kopač, who was Minister of Finance for less than a month. Prime Minister, Dr. Janez Drnovšek, explained such an early replacement by saying that he had announced the possibility of replacing Government members with better experts already at the presentation of his Government last month. Drnovšek said that the situation in the state finance was "anarchic", and confirmed that the Government had received foreign loans in order to cover the budget deficit. He believes that the situation in the Ministry of Finance has to be examined, and that the above mentioned replacement could help normalizing state finance. Prime Minister announced the presentation of a governmental stabilization programme for Friday.