STA, 23 May 2020 - The coronavirus epidemic in Slovenia will have officially lasted 80 days, from 12 March to 31 May. It has had an unprecedented impact on society and economy, as evident from key indicators measuring the pulse of society.
The ranks of the jobless swelled from EUR 77,484 at the end of February to 88,648 by the end of April, according to Employment Service figures.
Growth slowed in May, but the jobless total has already exceeded 90,000 and many more are expected to be laid off in the coming months.
One of the measures put in place to help companies was subsidies for those temporarily laid off. The Employment Service has so far received requests for 268,348 employees, more than a quarter of the country's workforce.
Economic stimulus measures estimated at EUR 6 billion have been adopted so far, which is expected to help the economy weather the crisis but will upend public finances.
General government debt, at 66.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of 2019 after almost a decade of austerity, is projected to balloon to 82.4% of GDP by the end of this year, partially due to fresh borrowing and partially due to a sharp decline in GDP.
Instead of a general government surplus of 0.8% initially projected for the year, public finances are expected to record a 8.1% deficit, according to government projections.
Note: The data below is dynamic, and updated for the day you're reading this.
And while the Slovenian economy had projected to grow at a modest 2-2.5%, it is now expected to contract by anywhere between 5% and more than 8%.
One indication of the sharp slowdown is the amount of value added tax (VAT) the Tax Administration has collected. While the receipts dropped by 4% year-on-year in March, the decline in April was 25% as virtually the entire retail and hospitality sectors shut down.
Slovenia registered 1,478 coronavirus infections by 21 May and 106 deaths attributed to Covid-19. A total of 316 persons were hospitalised, of which 21 remained in hospital on 21 May.
Cases were confirmed in 154 of Slovenia's 212 municipalities, with major hotspots in nursing homes in Metlika, Šmarje pri Jelšah and Ljutomer. Four in five fatalities were among nursing home residents and more than a quarter of all confirmed cases were among residents or staff.
The epidemic peaked around the end of March. The highest number of new infections in a single-day came on 26 March (61), while hospitalisations peaked at 107 on 30 March.
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