Companies which spent more on R&D before and after the crisis were more successful.

A higher level of productivity was recorded in larger companies, that is corporations, and in export-oriented companies, shows the study carried out by the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs in cooperation with the Ljubljana Faculty of Economics and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The study has also analysed subsides for R&D in 1998-2015, but established that they had not significantly increased company-level productivity, once size, industry and year effects are taken into account.

It suggests that this is probably because during the 2009-2015 recession subsidies were granted mostly to firms in difficulties.

The study also found that sate-owned companies were less productive than companies in private ownership.

Some of the findings have been included in the recent report on Slovenia as part of the European Semester, the annual evaluation of member states's fiscal and economic policies.

Brussels would like Slovenia to take advantage of its current robust economic growth to make growth sustainable.

Given Slovenia's challenges of ageing population, the European Commission would like the country to take measures to increase productivity.

Slovenia would thus have to encourage investment activity, investment into R&D and technological development, eliminate structural imbalances in the labour market, promote life-long learning, encourage employment among young and older workers, and improve access to capital and the business environment.

Similarly, the Institute for Macroeconomic Analysis and Development, the government's macroeconomic think tank, has warned that Slovenia has been lagging behind the EU's average productivity by around 20%.