News roundup - Friday, 31 March

Golob in Kyiv to support Ukraine, offer help in post-war recovery

KYIV/BUCHA, Ukraine - Prime Minister Robert Golob paid an unannounced visit to Ukraine. In talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky and Denys Shmyhal, he said Slovenia wanted to participate in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, especially the Kharkiv province. Golob and Zelensky also talked about Ukraine's progress in the expected accession to the EU and NATO. He attended a ceremony commemorating the civilian victims of the war on the first anniversary of the liberation of Bucha, saying that innocent people had been brutalised by Russian forces and that war must not be an excuse for lawlessness and impunity. Taking part in a summit on Russia's responsibility for crimes in Ukraine, he expressed Slovenia's support for the establishment of a special tribunal for Russian crimes against Ukraine.

President assesses army capable of defending Slovenia

LJUBLJANA - President Nataša Pirc Musar received the army readiness report for 2022. She noted that "there are still certain deviations in terms of the capabilities, operation and endurance of the defence forces," while adding that steps were being taken in a positive direction. Pirc Musar stressed that the SAF had carried out all the required tasks - training and exercises, providing support for other authorities, including the police and protection and rescue teams, while also participating in the planned international missions. The readiness assessment is unchanged compared to 2021. Maj-Gen Robert Glavaš, the chief of the general staff of the SAF, believes "better times" are ahead.

Annual inflation jumps up to 10.5% in March, the highest level since August

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's annual inflation rate jumped to 10.5% in March after standing at 9.3% the month before. Contributing the most to the high inflation were the prices of food and electricity. Higher food prices contributed the most to the annual inflation or 2.9 percentage points, as food was 19.1% costlier, with meat prices rising by 18.2%, bread and cereal products by 20.1% and milk, cheese and eggs by 24.4%. The harmonised index of consumer prices, an EU benchmark, stood at 10.4%, up a point from the month before.

Slovenia's general government deficit drops to 3.9% in 2022

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's general government deficit dropped by 0.7 percentage points year-on-year to 3.9% of the country's GDP in 2022, amounting to EUR 2.3 billion, the Statistics Office reported. In 2022, deficit was generated in all three sub-sectors - the most in the central government (EUR 2.1 billion), followed by local government (EUR 109 million) and social security funds (EUR 104 million). General government debt was down almost five points to 69.9% of GDP despite increasing marginally in nominal terms.

Slovenian economy generates deficit for the first time in 10 years

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's economy generated a deficit in transactions with the rest of the world in 2022 for the first time in ten years, largely due to high prices of energy and other inputs and because of issues in supply chains, the Statistics Office said as it released its early estimate. The deficit stood at EUR 606 million or 1% of GDP. In 2021, the country generated a surplus of EUR 2.14 billion, or 4.1% of GDP.

Health Ministry deems planned doctors' strike illegal

LJUBLJANA - The Health Ministry will consider the strike doctors are planning to relaunch on Sunday illegal, Minister Danijel Bešič Loredan said. Under the law, a strike in healthcare must be announced at least ten days earlier and the ministry has not received an official notice, the ministry's State Secretary Tadej Ostrc said. The doctors' and dentists' trade union Fides said that if the ministry failed to uphold its side of agreement, the strike that would follow would be legal.

Man dies on road after having to drive himself to health centre

LJUBLJANA - The case of a 74-year-old man who died on Wednesday morning while driving himself to emergency treatment at the Velenje Health Centre for the second time in less than two hours will be subject to an internal and if need be external inquiry, Health Minister Danijel Bešič Loredan announced after unofficial reports claimed the health centre had failed to provide an ambulance for the man.

Record property prices but fewer transactions in 2022

LJUBLJANA - Property prices reached yet another record high in Slovenia in 2022, rising by 19% in nominal terms from 2021. The number of transactions, on the other hand, decreased by 5-10%, signalling a gradual cooling of the market, the Surveying and Mapping Authority (GURS) said in the annual property market report. Flats were by 19% more expensive, land for residential property by 17% and houses by 12%. The prices grew robustly in the first half of the year before slowing down in the second half.

Households have more disposable income but save less

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian households had more gross income at their disposal in 2022 than in 2021, but their saving rate decreased by nearly ten percentage points to below 10%, the Statistics Office said. Households' gross disposable income grew by 9% nominally last year or by EUR 2.94 billion to EUR 35.59 billion. They saved an average 9.3% of their disposable income, down from 18.7% in 2021.

Industrial output up in January

LJUBLJANA - Industrial output in Slovenia was up by 1.4% in January compared to the month before. It increased the most in the construction sector, by 9.9%. In annual comparison, output rose by 2.7%, the Statistics Office said. At the monthly level, a 1.1% growth was recorded in industry, 1.4% in trade, maintenance and repair of motor vehicles, and 1.8% in services. The biggest jump in annual comparison was also recorded in construction, where output was 26.7% higher.

More revenue, profit from motorways

LJUBLJANA - DARS, the national motorway company, posted a net profit of EUR 135.1 million in 2022, up nearly 20% from 2021, while increasing revenue by around 5% to EUR 494.5 million, according to the unaudited annual business report for 2022. Tolling made for the largest share of revenue - EUR 479.6 million, while write-downs totalled EUR 200.9 million as the largest single expense.

Pensioners' rally morphs into anti-government protest

LJUBLJANA - The third pensioners' protest organised by civil society groups with close links to the Democrats (SDS), the largest opposition party, was staged in Ljubljana. The protests' spearhead and former SDS MP Pavel Rupar called on Prime Minister Robert Golob and the government to resign and urged a snap election. Rupar vowed the rallies will continue until the demands are fulfilled as he warned that the government would continue to adopt measures to the detriment of pensioners.

Slovenia donates mobile water testing lab to Ukraine

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia donated to Ukraine a mobile laboratory for water testing, which enables analysis of water within 24 hours in terms of its suitability for drinking, washing, bathing or other uses by means of standardised analytical methods. The handover ceremony featured Environment, Climate and Energy Minister Bojan Kumer, representatives of the Environment Agency and the Defence Ministry, and representatives of Ukraine.

Freedom, SD proposing Ukrainian Holodomor resolution

LJUBLJANA - Three coalition MPs filed in parliamentary procedure a resolution proposal commemorating the victims of the Holodomor, starvation of Ukrainians by the Soviets in the 1930s, the coalition Social Democrats (SD) said in a press release. The proposal was signed by the heads of the deputy groups of the Freedom Movement and the SD and an SD MP who is the chair of the parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee. The objective is to join over 20 countries who have already recognised the Holodomor as genocide.

Slovenian Olympic Committee supports return of Russian athletes

LJUBLJANA - Following the endorsement by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of Russian and Belarusian athletes returning to international competitions as neutrals, the Slovenian Olympic Committee said it supported the decision, noting that it was not considering boycotting the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. President Franjo Bobinac said that "sport should bring us together, not divide us. There is no room for politics in sport."

Painter Staš Kleindienst wins Jakopič Prize

LJUBLJANA - Painter Staš Kleindienst has won the Rihard Jakopič Prize for 2023, the highest national award for lifetime achievements in fine and visual arts in Slovenia. Kleindienst, born in 1979, is one of its youngest recipients in the last decade. He will receive it on 12 April at the Museum of Modern Art in Ljubljana. Kleindienst won the award for "a very rich and highly complex body of work, which has reached its first peak in the last five years", the jury said.