Slovenia may ask for international bailout next year

Slovenia will sell state’s shares in banks and companies in the first half of 2013 before it is forced to ask for international aid next year, Slovenian Finance Minister Janez Sustersic said Sunday. The Slovenian government is considering several options to solve the problem of bad loans, the Finance Minister said in statements. The options include the sale of leading telecommunications operator Telekom Slovenije; Zavarovalnica Triglav, a traditional insurance company that holds one third of market in Slovenia; and major national energy company Petrol, according to the minister. “I hope we’ll solve the situation in the banks fast enough to avoid a bailout. If not, we would have to ask for help which could happen in the middle of the next year,” Sustersic added. Sustersic’s latest remarks are apparently different from what he said in Brussels in July when he rejected the suggestion that Slovenia might need outside help financial aid from the European Union. He said that Slovenia would not need to borrow some 1.3 billion euros in November, although it was in financial difficulties, noting that the figure was “either a mistake or a misinterpretation.” However, Sustersic confirmed in July that a due diligence at Slovenia’s largest bank NLB has revealed 1.5 billion euros in loans of the lowest quality, which means the state-owned bank would need a recapitalization of up to 500 million euros by the end of 2013. (