Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, explained that the Government has approved amendments to the Banking Act, coordinated with the Bank of Slovenia, with which it places an unlimited guarantee on savings deposits in Slovenian banks. The Prime Minister stated that this measure would remain in force at least until 31 December 2009.

 

(Photo: Bor Slana/Bobo)

 

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Janez Janša held a coordination meeting with the Slovenian Minister of Finance, Dr Andrej Bajuk; the Governor of the Bank of Slovenia, Dr Marko Kranjec; the President of the Social Democrats, Mr Borut Pahor; the Head of the Strategic Council for Economic Development, Dr Peter Groznik; the Director of the Economic Institute of the Faculty of Law, Dr France Križanič; and the former Governor of the Bank of Slovenia, Mr Mitja Gaspari. “At the coordination meeting, we discussed possible measures to be adopted in Slovenia due to the global financial crisis. We exchanged information obtained at a number of international meetings held in recent days and agreed on the performance of duties in the period between the first session of the new parliament and the formation of the new government,” said the Prime Minister.  He added that a political consensus had been reached at the meeting on what action to take in order for the proposed measures to be adopted at the executive and legislative levels.

 

With regard to the set of measures adopted by the Heads of State and Government of the eurozone countries in Paris on Sunday, it was agreed that, if necessary, Slovenia would adopt those measures that are relevant to the situation in Slovenia.  The Prime Minister also announced meetings to be held in the days ahead with representatives of the financial and economic sectors on the topic of ensuring the normal functioning of the economy and the financial system.

 

(Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA)

 

PM Janša further stressed that Slovenian banks had not been hit by bad investments and that insurance companies and funds were not experiencing any major difficulties in their operation. However, the collapse of confidence and the situation on the stock exchange in the last few weeks have, to some extent, also affected part of the Slovenian financial system.  With the amendments to the Banking Act, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia is endeavouring to restore confidence in the existing financial system. Prime Minister Janša assesses that, in the light of the current financial situation in Slovenia, there are no further measures which the Government would need to discuss or on which the National Assembly would need to take decisions.