Panel: Strong Slovenian Companies Essential For Development
Participants in a panel on the "Sale of State Property" organised on Thursday by the National Council agreed that if Slovenia was to stay competitive, it must not rely solely on foreign investment or investment abroad, but also needed powerful companies seated at home.
The president of the Strategic Council for Economic Development Marjan Senjur said that in order to enter the ranks of the most developed European countries, Slovenia also needed strong companies at home that would be capable of successfully competing with foreign companies.
He said that foreign capital was very welcome, however at a scope that would be still healthy as Slovenia had to both import as well as export capital.
Joze Mencinger, a former economy minister and chancellor of the Ljubljana University, meanwhile believes that Slovenia is wise not to have sold the key elements of its economy during transition as, according to him, foreign ownership of companies does not contribute to economic growth.
Mencinger said that while the outflow of revenues from Slovenia to countries abroad was already higher than the country's entire trade gap, Slovenia was still much better off than Eastern European countries, which had sold to foreigners most of their companies, and especially the financial sector.
Peter Glavic of the Maribor Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, who is also a former state councillor, said that no Slovenian government had a long-term strategy, and that the incumbent government was planing to invest in projects abroad. According to him, this is not good, as the export of capital also means the export of jobs.
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