Background information

In 2021, the Ministry for Economic Development and Technology (MGRT) will provide €659 million for the economy. A majority share will go for refundable grants and less than 40% for non-refundable grants. On top of this, the seventh COVID-19 law (ZIUPOPDVE), adopted by the Parliament on 29 December 2020, gives another €320 million of refundable grants. The aim is to boost development in the recovery period. Funds will be distributed by the ministry or one of the following organizations: SID Bank, SPIRIT Business Development Agency, Public Enterprise Fund (SPS), Slovenian Regional Development Fund (SRRS), and Public Scholarship, Development, Disability and Maintenance Fund RS (JŠRIS).

Content of measure

Development incentives in 2021 will cover following areas:

• Entrepreneurship (€260.6 million)
• Research and Development (€145.6 million)
• Tourism (93.5 million)
• Regional development (76.8 million)
• Digitalisation (32.1 million)
• Internationalisation and energy renovation (€11.5 and €10 million respectively)
• Social entrepreneurship (4.4 million)

Additional €320 million, provided by the seventh COVID-19 law ZIUPOPDVE, will go to:

• Tourism in the form of guarantee loans, distributed by SID Bank (€200 million, among which 25% for working capital and 75% for investments);
• Liquidity loans for enterprises, distributed by the Public Enterprise Fund (€90 million);
• Guarantee loans for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, distributed by the Public Enterprise Fund (€30 million).

All state subsidies for the economy will amount to €979.3 million in 2021. SID Bank has already successfully initiated the programme COVID-19 fund of funds in October 2020 (within the Operational programme for the implementation of the EU cohesion policy 2014-2020 and, particularly, cohesion policy action against coronavirus or REACT-EU ). The Ministry for Economic Development and Technology (MGRT) is preparing the programme for transition to a green, digital and resilient Europe within Recovery and Resilience Facility . It is expected the programme will start by the end of 2021.

Use of measure

Dnevnik daily reported results from the company survey conducted by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (GZS). According to the survey (involving 423 respondents), most important mechanisms for the stabilization of the economy were: temporary layoff scheme (77% of the companies), short-time scheme (34%) and sick leave paid by the state (25%). Eighteen per cent of companies took advantage of the deferred payment of credit obligations and sixteen per cent the deferred payment of taxes. The new guarantee loans are expected to benefit seven percent of companies.

Target groups

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

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	European Funds National funds

Social partners

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

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Informed	Informed
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

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

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: Peak or cross-sectoral level

Involvement

The topic was discussed at the Economic and Social Council. Social partners had an opportunity to be informed and share their ideas. Some of their proposals were accepted, such as partial reimbursement of fixed costs or support to tourism and hospitality.

Views and reactions

In preparing the Recovery and Resilience Facility Plan, the important EU mechanism for economic recovery in 2021-2023, social partners lack more content-oriented dialogue. As partners in the Economic and Social Council, employer organizations and trade unions were only acquainted with the proposals, but they had no influence on their design. Social partners hope that they will have a more open dialogue with the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy (SVRK) in March 2021. They believe the funds can be used more effectively.

Sources

• 27 November 2020: SID Bank, SID banka s Skladom skladov COVID-19 uspešno blaži posledice epidemije na gospodarstvo [With the ‘COVID-19 Fund of funds,’ SID Bank is successfully mitigating the effects of the epidemic on the economy (tovarna.finance.si)
• 30 December 2020: Act Determining Intervention Measures to Assist in Mitigating the Consequences of the Second Wave of COVID-19 Epidemic (Zakon o interventnih ukrepih za pomoč pri omilitvi posledic drugega vala epidemije COVID-19, ZIUPOPDVE (pisrs.si)
• 17 January 2021: The government of RS, Razvojne spodbude v letu 2021 [Development incentives in 2021 (www.gov.si)
• 17 February 2021: Igor Dernovšek, Anketa GZS [GZS survey], Dnevnik dail (www.dnevnik.si)