Weekly Review of Slovene Economy from 30 January through 5 February

Ljubljana, 7 February - Slovenia's becoming an associate member of the EU on 1 February brought no major change to the Slovene economy as the Interim Accord had been in force since 1997. Major changes, however, will apply to the field of finances. The Europe Accord enables EU banks to found its branch offices in Slovenia and relaxes the inflow of foreign loans. Customs for trading with the 15-nation bloc will be completely abolished in 2001 but Slovene insurance companies will have a four-year transition period to get ready for the advent of foreign competition.