Page 46 - bne_April 2021_20210401

46 I Southeast Europe bne April 2021
“Slovenia's exports of goods and services account for close to 75% of GDP, confirming that [the] economy is well integrated into global value chains. In my view, Slovenia’s competitive strengths are numerous and some of them are the following: First, favourable geographical location on the north of Adriatic and in the vicinity of European economic centres, such as [the] south of Germany and northern Italy. Second, well-educated labour force including strong R&D and innovation capacities. Though Slovenia is not characterised by a cheap labour force, its good quality to price ratio has become an increasingly important driver for inward foreign investments. Third, well-developed economic as well as social infrastructure contributes its part to the international competitive position of the country. And fourth, well-diversified and preserved nature provides by itself a good basis for tourism as one of the quickest growing economic sectors over the last decade.”
Guardiancich also noted that “despite growing imbalances – Slovenians began to consume larger quantities of foreign goods and services than they could afford, as evidenced by the BoP deficits that emerged after 2003 – Slovenia was a success story.”
He identifies several reasons for this: the gradual approach to transition, competitive neo-corporatism, namely productive exchanges between workers and managers, and technology-intensive production.
High human development
The “Green heart of Europe”, “Europe’s lung”, the “Garden of Europe” are all
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titles that have been used to describe Slovenia, not to mention seized upon by governments and the tourist board. The country prides itself on its green nature, picturesque scenery, Adriatic coast and high mountains, which
has been accompanied by an ethos of outdoor good health – albeit in
a country with a high number of smokers – and eco awareness. It has some of Europe’s largest forest cover, and almost half of its territory is protected natural areas.
Slovenia scores well on most human development indicators. It is the highest- ranked emerging Europe country on the United Nations Development Programme human development index, in 22nd place worldwide, again followed by Czechia and Estonia, and above West European countries such as France, Spain and Italy.
Life expectancy is also the highest in the emerging Europe region at 81.3 years.
Koper port on Slovenia's Adriatic coast.
There has been no mass emigration, unlike in most emerging European countries, with the population hovering around the 2mn mark for the last three decades, though recent data show a decrease in the Slovene population offset by immigration.
The OECD’s Better Life Index shows that Slovenia scores well in measures of well- being, performing above average in the job and earnings, housing, health status, social connections, education and skills, work-life balance, environmental quality and personal security categories, even though it is below the OECD average
for income and wealth, as well as civic engagement, and subjective well-being.
Despite this, Slovenians are less satisfied with their lives than the OECD average, says the report. When asked to rate their general satisfaction with life on a scale from 0 to 10, Slovenians gave it a 5.9 grade on average, lower than the OECD average of 6.5.
Slovenia didn’t see a spike in inequality as seen in some post-socialist countries with uncontrolled privatisations that created an oligarch class. Inequality is very low; among the OECD countries, only Slovakia has a lower Gini co-efficient than Slovenia, which is on a par with Czechia.
Boom and bust
Slovenia overtook Portugal in GDP per capita terms at the start of the 2005-08