The ZBS told the STA that Slovenian banks had been adopting the necessary measures to consolidate their operations, especially ensuring capital adequacy, tackling bad claims, adopting strategies and selling off non-strategic operations.

"We are certain that a quick, harmonised and successful adoption of those activities is vital, as trust is the foundation for continued successful activities and development of the banking sector".

The ZBS moreover called for a balanced and sustainable combination of austerity measures for shoring up public finances, and encouraging investment.

The association would also like to see the adoption and the implementation of legislation aimed at regulating bad claims, as it believes "that this is vital if we want to shore up the banking sector, dispense with the credit crunch and provide the necessary development support for the economy".

Touching on the announcement that the association and the central bank would draft a set of measures that would speed up the tackling of bad claims and boost economic growth, the ZBS said that "the first analysis is ready, but we cannot speak about concrete proposals at the moment".

A similar response was provided by Banka Slovenije, which stressed that an analysis of bad claims had been handed over to the government and that the cabinet had also been presented with some possible solutions.

"We did not provide any recommendations. We believe that the work on the project will have to continue," the bank said in a press release.

The downgrade of Slovenian credit rating by Moody's, Standard & Poor's (S&P) and Fitch has also caught the attention of German media, which have been reporting about it extensively.

Quoting Economic Development Minister Radovan Žerjav that Slovenia's first priority was to prevent further downgrades, the German press agency DPA said that "Slovenia must adopt radical reforms to get the spending to a sustainable level".

The daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung moreover quoted the IFO Institute for Economic Research, which placed Slovenia among the countries where economic conditions are just slightly better than in Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

Another daily, the Süddeutsche Zeitung, reported on Slovenia's problems on Tuesday, saying that the once exemplary young member of the EU and eurozone had been hit hard by the global crisis, leaving in its wake halved exports, bad claims and two weak state-owned banks.

It said that debts had been rising ever since the crisis, and noted that Prime Minister Janez Janša had announced in June that Slovenia might have to ask for international aid.