Slovenia's gross external debt amounted to €43.4bn at end-August, decreasing slightly from €44.37bn at end-June, according to preliminary data announced by Slovenia’s central bank, Banka Slovenije (BS) on October 14.
Slovenia's debt mounted rapidly in the pre-crisis period and when the global economic crisis hit heavily in 2009 many highly leveraged companies were unable to repay their loans. The situation in the banking sector which escalated in late 2013, and Slovenia barely managed to avoid an international bailout. Instead, the government launched a recapitalisation of major banks.
Slovenia's gross external debt increased further to €47.34bn at end 2014 from €41.87bn at end-2013. However, the debt decreased to €44.95bn in 2015.
At end-August, the gross external debt of the general government dropped to €22.7bn from €23.09bn at end-July.
Meanwhile, the debt of the non-financial sector through August decreased to €10.69bn, from €10.85bn in the month before.
Slovenia’s public debt currently amounts to €31.74bn or 80.61% of GDP, according to DebtClocks.eu.