Higher Inflation Only in Case of Unexpected Events

Portorož, 22 November - Slovenia intends to lower inflation to 5.1 percent in 2003, ministers of finance, economy, and social affairs - Anton Rop, Tea Petrin and Vlado Dimovski - stressed at the Slovenian Business Conference in Portoroz on Friday. The government policy involving the central bank in bringing down inflation has been set in a way to attain the 5.1 percent goal, according to Economics Minister Petrin. Finance Minister Rop added that inflation will be higher than that only in case of unexpected events beyond the government's control.