Business environment in Slovenia - how to improve it? Ljubljana, 5 June 2015 Stratis KASTRISSIANAKIS European Commission Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

AGENDA State of play Progress made so far Further Unlocking Slovenia's potential 2

Remarkable turn around 3 Good export performance is fuelling economic activity growth

Investment in Slovenia severely lags behind its peers Slovenia's investment dropped by 40% and has not yet recovered FDI stocks have persistently lagged behind the benchmark countries 4

Slovenia ranks below average on competitiveness indicators Slovenia ranks 51 st in the world - lagging behind in the EU Room to improve on several areas 5 Source: Doing Business 2015Source: WEF Global Competitiveness Report

But still Slovenia has many comparative advantages… 6 which make Slovenia an ideal FDI destination! geographic location – global value chains Quality work force Overall productivity, 2013 GDP (PPP) per person employed (in €). Source: IMD - World Competitiveness Yearbook, 2014 Rich on natural resources

AGENDA State of play Progress made so far Further Unlocking Slovenia's potential 7

The importance of the business environment is widely recognised NRP Bilateral meetings Reduction of administrative barriers: One of the key priorities in structural reforms Improve administrative capacity Harmonisation and prioritisation of policies Full implementation of SBP, single document Renewal of Regulated professions Inclusion in the agenda of all bilateral meetings with the government Country report Several areas highlighted including Reduction of administrative burden Access to Finance Regulated professions R&D and Innovation

9 Slovenian Business Point Stop bureaucracy - minus 25% action program Measures to mitigate impacts of grey economy Progress has been made…. Reduce time to start a business in Slovenia

…but shift focus on prioritisation and implementation? 10 Single document Priority I: 42 measures Priority II: 52 measures => Few measures target directly business environment: Lack of prioritization Several strategic documents Industrial Policy, Innovation Strategy, Smart specialization strategy, Internationalization strategy => Is coherence between various activities ensured? Most of the measures have missed the original deadline Clear responsibility and project organization for implementation and monitoring? Implementation & monitoring Prioritisation

AGENDA State of play Progress made so far Further unlocking Slovenia's potential 11

Surveys and analysis provide indication of areas with highest priority 12 Regulatory burden Access to finance Institutional environment Streamline permitting processes – provide certainty to investors: reduction of time and cost for obtaining a building permit Better Regulation: Systematically assess impacts of new regulation Reduce overall burden of tax and social contributions on labour Pursue reforms on Regulated professions Build financial capability and improve the investment readiness of SME's Better assess the quality of borrowers and loans Assessment of existing instruments by SID Banka and SEF Increase transparency – reduce risk of over indebtedness Further increase alternative financing instruments – equity financing Enhance implementation capacity of the Public sector Improve administrative capacity Take effective measures to fight corruption Illustration of priority areas

Focus on some big but easy wins 13 Time to implement: 1-2: 2015 – mid : mid 2016 – : after 2017 Cost to implement 1/2: low 3/4: medium 5/5- high Size of bubble: Impact on investment Illustration of possible measures

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