Comparisons with Cyprus are "unnecessary and inappropriate" and bank deposits are safe. "There is no need to panic," she stressed.
Bratušek announced that her government would continue with the good measures started by the previous government, including the bad bank, the Slovenia Sovereign Holding and fiscal consolidation.
Bank restructuring is the no. 1 priority, on which Finance Minister Uroš Čufer, who has very good knowledge of the banking sector's problems, is "working day and night".
"We will continue restructuring and stabilising the banking system in accordance with the law [on the bad bank], which will be tweaked as recommended by experts," she said.
Turning to fiscal consolidation, Bratušek said t
he state of public finances was "not the best", with the planned budget deficit of a billion euros this year "estimated too low".
The deficit will be widened with the conversion of EUR 420m-worth of convertible bonds granted to the banks NLB and NKBM, which will widen the deficit by 1.2 percentage points.
Debt rose by 7 points to 54% of GDP last year, "during a government which promised an end to borrowing". "But we will not look back, we need to look forward and make sure fiscal consolidation proceeds," she said.
Bratušek pointed out that "austerity is not over yet".
In addition to top measures started by the previous government, Bratušek's will also enhance the measures that had been neglected by kick-starting the economy and strive to create new jobs.
Turning to the bailout speculations, Bratušek said "our words have certain weight" and affect financial markets.
"This applies in particular to the words of people who had good insight into fiscal policy and helped shape it," she said, in what may be understood as a reference to former Finance Minister Janez Šušteršič.
Source: SloveniaTimes
