PM Claims Govt On Track With Privatisation Roadmap
The cabinet already has the proposals of expert groups on the privatisation of all strategic sectors - companies and banking institutions - and is therefore "on track with the privatisation roadmap", PM Janez Jansa told the parliament on Monday.
"The documents which are binding for the government and the coalition call for a privatisation which would be deliberate and in some places gradual," Jansa said in a Q&A session held at the beginning of the National Assembly's March plenary.
The privatisation groups have only to draft privatisation proposals for the state-owned Pension Management Fund (KAD) and Restitution Fund (SOD), Jansa explained. These proposals are expected "shortly", Jansa replied to a question by opposition Social Democrats (SD) MP Miran Potrc.
Therefore, differences among privatisation concepts cannot exist, as the cabinet has not yet adopted any of the currently drafted proposals, Jansa explained.
The government will moreover try to harmonise the privatisation of Slovenia's largest bank, NLB, with the bank's strategic partner, the Belgian banking and insurance group KBC, Jansa said.
Regarding the positions for talks with KBC, Jansa assured that "no differences exist within the coalition" on the future stake of KBC in the NLB.
The government will moreover shortly present its resolution on a national programme for the most "productive usage" of privatisation proceeds, except for the banking sector, where the government plans to use the funds to reduce public debt, the PM said.
Jansa also reiterated that the government-sponsored tax reforms are designed to simplify and rebalance the tax burden, primarily to reduce it.
By abolishing the payroll tax, the national budget would get between SIT 80bn (EUR 333.9m) and SIT 120bn (EUR 500.9m) less.
The government would make up for the loss by reducing spending and increasing the taxes on consumption and unproductive assets.
One option is to raise both VAT rates, which would increase living costs by 1.3% at the most, and to institute a flat income tax rate, which would raise them by half a percent, Jansa added.
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