EU newcomer Slovenia could reach the European Union's average salary and pensions level by 2015 if it keeps up its current pace of development, Prime Minister Janez Jansa said.
"At this pace of development, by 2012 we could reach Italy's (average GDP in terms of purchasing power standard per inhabitant) and three years later, the EU's average on all criteria, including salaries and pensions," Jansa said. "Nobody abroad can prevent us from achieving this (development), we can harm only ourselves if we fail to collaborate on the crucial issues of the future," Jansa said.
In 2006, Slovenia's GDP per inhabitant in purchasing power (PPS) was 88% of the EU's average, compared to Italy's 103%, according to the European statistics office Eurostat.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008
Slovenia registered record 6.8-percent growth in 2007 but it could fall to 4.4 percent this year, according to government forecasts.
Slovenia was the first former Yugoslav republic to join the EU in 2004 and the first newcomer to hold the rotating bloc's presidency earlier this year.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008
