Chamber of Trade Expects Better Conditions for Small Business

Ljubljana, 14 November

Small companies record the highest growth in Slovenia and play a key role in reaching the country's economic goals, Miroslav Klun, president of the Chamber of Trade, said in an interview ahead of the chamber celebrating its 35th anniversary.

The chamber is convinced that the small business sector could create from 60,000 to 70,000 new jobs in a relatively short period of time and help achieve the Lisbon agenda goals, but only if the government secures favourable conditions for the sector.
According to the chamber's figures, micro and small-size companies currently account for 98.4 percent of all Slovenian companies. They employ 37.5 percent of the workforce and create 38.8 percent of revenues, 51 percent of net profits and 52.2 percent of net losses.
Slovenia's average small business has three employees, including the owner, while the EU average stands at 7 or 8. "If we menage to raise the number of employees from 3 to 4, this would create 50,000 new jobs," Klun highlighted.
However, the sector's growth is hindered by the red tape, inflexible labour legislation, deficient tax policy, high operating costs and notably the indiscipline in the payment practice, the chamber's head pointed out.
All these obstacles have caused a falling trend in the number of small businesses, decreasing by 2.4 percent in 2003 over the previous year, according to the chamber's figures.
While the outgoing government of the Liberal Democrats (LDS) has made a lot of promises to reduce the red tape, little has been done, said Klun. He expressed hope that the new government of centre-right Slovenian Democrats (SDS) would do more to boost the sector.
Commenting on which lines of the small business have good prospects for the future, Klun was convinced that the entire sector could work well, while there is especially a lot of potential in the tourism industry.

Chamber of Trade Expects Better Conditions for Small Business

More articles from this issue:

Archive