The survey conducted in cooperation with the Faculty of Social Sciences shows that foreign investors come to Slovenia mainly due to the know-how of employees and quality of work but also labour costs.

Another important asset of the country is its location and infrastructure, said one of the authors of the survey, Andreja Jaklič of the faculty's Centre for International Relations.

The main obstacles, however, remain levies on labour and contributions, long and complex administrative tax procedures, inefficient state administration and payment defaults, she said.

"Between 2008 and 2016, most of the obstacles unfortunately became more burdening; there is a growing discontent particularly regarding road infrastructure," Jaklič said.

Companies also have problems finding staff, especially candidates who speak foreign languages, have sales skills and practical experience.

"Most of the companies from the survey plan no major changes next year, but as many as 37% plan an expansion, which is more than last year," Jaklič said. More than half of them also plans to hire.

SPIRIT boss Gorazd Mihelič said Slovenia's rivals in FDI were mainly the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, which however lagged behind Slovenia in terms of development.

He noted that SPIRIT had this year backed one FDI investment, a EUR 14m US investment that is to create 30 jobs.

Another author of the survey, economist Mitja Rojec, said that on average, foreign businesses in Slovenia were doing better. He attributed this to the fact that foreigners invest in the fastest growing sectors and are often part of multinationals.

Despite an increase in FDI in Slovenia, the country still has the lowest share of FDI among the newcomers in the EU, he noted.

The survey was conducted among 239 companies with foreign and mixed capital, of which 20% were Austrian, 20% German, 9% Italian and 7% Croatian.

This is 25% of all the companies that were asked to take part in the survey, which Jaklič said was a very good response.