Background information

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (GZS) issued recommendations for the economic upturn in the ‘post-corona’ period. In the introduction, the employer organisation assesses the four emergency laws for mitigation of the COVID-19 effects. Emergency measures have provided efficient support to people and protection of employment. Not so efficient, according to GZS, has been the financial help provided to companies: as they have problems to fulfil the conditions in order to obtain guarantees and deferred debt instalments, financial instruments are underused.

Content of measure

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (GZS) positively assessed the government’s plans for investments which may foster economic growth in many activities, particularly in the construction. There are investments needs in the development (knowledge, innovation, digitalisation), the improvement of infrastructure, the transition to a low-carbon society, and housing. GZS identified six domains which should be prioritized:

• growth of domestic consumption (energy renovation of buildings, new investments in public buildings);
• investments in infrastructure (road, rail, and IT infrastructure system, renewable-energy power plants, 5G investments);
• Support to the digitalisation of business enterprises as well as public administration, tax exemptions for investments in digitalisation;
• more investments in research, particularly for the joint projects between research institutions and businesses;
• environmental investments (improved waste collection and recycling, the transition to climate-neutral and circular economy, new resources of water);
• investments in agriculture, food processing, and food self-sufficiency.

GZS estimates that between three and four billion euro could be spent annually for the above-mentioned projects.

Use of measure

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (GZS) has estimated costs for each priority area. Among financial sources, included in GZS’ calculations are the European Rescue Fund, the European Cohesion Fund and other European and national funds. Sources for investments may also come from the private sector as well as households. GZS highlights that the investment potential of companies is high, since they achieved the record profits in 2019, while their indebtedness is considerably low.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Employers' organisations	European Funds Local funds National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative
Form	Not applicable	Any other form of consultation, institutionalised (as stable working groups or committees) or informal

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: Peak or cross-sectoral level

Involvement

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (GZS) issued recommendations for the economic upturn in the ‘post-corona’ period.

Views and reactions

No feedback so far.

Sources

• 20 August 2020: Komentar GZS: Nov gospodarski zagon za Slovenijo 5. (www.gzs.si)