The government in Slovenia adopted a new stimulus package to help restart the economy after the COVID-19 epidemic disruptions. Measures include tourism vouchers, subsidies for shortened working hours, facilitating investments worth EUR500m, and favourable loans for businesses.
Tourism vouchers worth EUR 345m aim to help Slovenia’s tourism industry by providing all citizens, including children, with vouchers to be spent on holidays in Slovenia. Adults will receive vouchers worth EUR 200 each while children up to 18 years old will be eligible for a EUR 50 voucher.
Favourable loans worth EUR 40m will be provided to around 900 micro and small companies in order to boost their liquidity.
Subsidies for shortened working hours will be available to employers who cannot secure at least 90% of the work for at least 10% of their employees. The government will subsidise up to 20 hours per week. The subsidies will amount from EUR 112 to EUR 449. The measure will be financed from the European Social Fund and the European Commission's SURE mechanism and will be in place until 31 December 2020.
The government will also put together a list of strategically important investments amounting to EUR 500 million that will help create jobs and speed up the economic recovery. This means that those investments will be subject to faster administrative procedures to speed up their realisation. This will not, however, interfere with any environmental protection laws. Only projects estimated to be worth more than EUR 5m will be considered. The investments will be divided into three priority groups, based on their phase of development: those to be launched this year; then those that could commence by the end of 2021; and the final group will include investments that require new national spatial plan and are valued at more than EUR 25m. The list is expected to be finalised in the first week of June.
