Press release from the meeting of the Governing Board of the Bank of Slovenia of 30 July 2013

1) The Governing Board of the Bank of Slovenia discussed current supervisory matters.

2) The Governing Board of the Bank of Slovenia discussed the May 2013 Report on Slovenia’s International Economic Relations, and the revision to the balance of payments for 2006-2012. Slovenia’s current account position was positive during the first five months of 2013, when it recorded a surplus of EUR 882.0 million, EUR 674.4 million more than in the same period last year. The rapid increase in the current account surplus during the first five months of the year was the result of positive changes in all the sub-balances of the current account. The largest change was in the merchandise trade balance, which despite May’s deficit recorded a surplus over the first five months of the year as a result of strong exports and a decline in domestic purchasing power. The surplus of trade in services also widened in year-on-year terms, primarily as a result of growth in exports. By contrast, the deficits in factor income and current transfers narrowed.

In addition to the regular calculations of statistics for Slovenia’s international economic relations, there were also revisions made to the balance of payments figures for the 2006-2012 period, and the figures for the international investment position and the external debt for the 2008-2012 period. The revisions included annual changes in merchandise exports of between 0.9% and 1.5%, annual changes in merchandise imports of between 0.0% and 0.7%, and the inclusion of inflows from emigrants’ remittances in the balance of payments as of 2008. The figures were obtained on the basis of bilateral cooperation between countries, and range from EUR 22.3 million in 2008 to EUR 25.9 million in 2012. The other revisions were the result of standard updates of data sources.

3) The Governing Board of the Bank of Slovenia was briefed on the requisite data quality for the purpose of financial accounts statistics in the multi-purpose reports to the Bank of Slovenia by companies engaged in leasing business. On this basis the Governing Board adopted the Regulation amending the regulation on the reporting of data for the purpose of financial accounts statistics, thereby abolishing the requirement for such companies to report via AJPES (The Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for Public Legal Records and Related Services) for this purpose. This will relieve the burden on companies engaged in leasing business that report to the Bank of Slovenia in the same way that the burden on monetary financial institutions and investment funds has been relieved.