Weekly Review of Slovenia's Economy from 20 through 26 September

Ljubljana, 27 September - After hard negotiations Minister of Economic Activities Metod Dragonja and Board Director of the Petrol oil company Janez Lotric signed a contract for the Nafta Lendava refinery on 24 September. It provides conditions for the short-term operation of the refinery. It determines the rights and obligations of both owners - Petrol has a 55-percent stake in Nafta Lendava, while the rest is owned by the state - until 30 August next year. The state will stand surety for Nafta Lendava to take a loan of SIT 500 million (US$ 3 million) to start the production. To subsidize Nafta Lendava's loss from day-to-day operations the state is to earmark up to SIT 65 million per month.