Annual Review of Slovenian Business and Economy

Ljubljana, 11 December - The Slovenian government was twice forced to make downward revisions of its economic growth forecasts this year, as the global economic recovery that Slovenian businesses yearned for failed to arrive on time. First the government downgraded its end-2002 forecast of 3.7 percent in the spring by 0.6 percentage points. In the autumn it shaved off another 0.5 percentage points and said it was anticipating 2.6 percent GDP growth. It also settled for a somewhat less ambitious inflation target in the end. Still, it could have been much worse than 5.5 percent had the government and central bank taken longer to figure how to engage in a proper symbiotic relationship on the economic front. The most important step in the administration's war on inflation was a freeze on the growth of administered prices in place between mid-January and the end of April.