Slovenia is a parliamentary democratic republic. The executive consists of an elected President, aided by a Council of Ministers and a Prime Minister. It has a bicameral legislature, the Slovenian Assembly, consisting of State Chamber and the State Council. Administratively, the country is divided into 210 municipalities and 11 urban municipalities. Slovenia acceded to both NATO and the European Union in the spring of 2004.
Economy of Slovenia
Slovenia continues to enjoy the highest GDP per capita of the transitioning economies of the region. The country is experiencing an increased, yet manageable, rate of inflation and anticipates increased GDP growth, which started from the year 2000 as growth accelerates in the European Union, Slovenia's leading export market. The country is on a sound economic footing. However, much work remains to be done in the areas of privatisation and capital market reform. The first phase of privatisation is now complete. The current government has said that it is committed to seeing this final stage of privatisation happen under its administration. Further progress in this process will bring a further increase in the FDI level. Slovenia can be considered one of the economic front-runners of the countries that joined the European Union in 2004.
The situation of Slovenian economy after joining the European Union structure is stable. Clear symptoms of prosperity were noticed mostly in industrial production, domestic trade and export.
Economic growth amounted to 5.7% in 2006 and GDP per capita amounted to €15,167. Total value of GDP was around €30,448 million. Growth across the whole economy was especially influenced by export growth, supplies and investments.
Macroeconomic indicators are very good when compared to other European countries. Among European Union countries Slovenia has:
- One of the highest growth rates (5.7% when EU average is 3%),
- low public debt (27.8% GDP, when EU average is 61.7%),
- A moderate budget deficit (1%, when EU average is 2.3%) but
- A relatively high unemployment rate (8.6%, when EU average is 7.9%).
Increase of salaries was relatively smaller than the increase of the efficiency resulting in average gross salary of €1,212.8 in 2006.
Corruption, significantly, is low in Slovenia. According to Transparency International data, Slovenia is the cleanest country in terms of corruption among the EU newcomers.
Import and export
Due to high dynamics of imports (16%), which usually has a significant impact on the economy, the total value of imported goods was €18.3 billion. To meet increasing foreign demand most industry sectors had to boost production resulting in 4.8% growth y-o-y. Exports grew for 16.4% amounting to €16.8 billion.
Foreign investment
The participation of investment in generating GDP was 21.2% in 2005. At the end of Q2 2007, the FDI level in Slovenia reached €5,890 million.
Infrastructure and communication
The transportation network in Slovenia is well developed, offering 1,228 km of railway trucks and 38,562 km of roads, including 580 km of expressways. In 2006 there were 1.819 million people using mobile phones and 1.08 million internet users.
The main natural resources in Slovenia are lignite coal, lead, zinc, mercury, uranium, silver, hydropower, and forests.
The main industries are ferrous metallurgy and aluminium products, lead and zinc smelting, electronics (including military electronics), trucks, electric power equipment, wood products, textiles, chemicals, and machine tools.
GENERAL DATA
Area: 20,273 sq km
Population: 2 010 377
Capital city: Ljubljana
Language: Slovenian 92%, Serbo-Croatian 6.2%, other 1.8%
Ethnic groups: Slovene 83%, Serb 1.98% Croat 1.81%, Bosniak 1.1%, other 12.1% (2002)
Land boundaries: Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy
MACRO DATA
GDP (real growth): 5.7%
GDP (PPP): €37.13 billion
GDP per capita: €18,486
Inflation: 2.8%
Unemployment: 7.2%
Export: € 12.06 billion f.o.b.
Import: € 12.95 billion f.o.b.
* 2006 est. source: Eurostat
USEFUL DATA
Currency: Euro (EUR)
Time zone: GMT +1
Area code: +386
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