Responding to the recent increase in market pressure on Slovenia following the recent bailout in Cyprus, Čufer said in an interview with the STA that he was more concerned about "doing our homework".

"The way I see it is pretty simple. We have to focus on getting our homework done. We haven't been doing this for the past four months, which is why pressure has been stepped up on Slovenia."

He said he was not concerned by the recent spike in yields on Slovenian bonds, saying Slovenia was not in a position where it would have to tap the market at all cost. "If we cannot raise the money before the summer, we will do so in the autumn. The budget will not run out of money."

"We have the option of waiting for the conditions to settle and for our regular buyers of our bonds to gain a little more comfort and trust in Slovenian economic policy. After we present them our plans, I don't think this will be a problem," he said.

"At the moment there is a lot of speculation, opinion, assessments and even complete fabrications about Slovenia," he said, adding that the platform for action in dealing with the crisis would be the Stability Programme that Slovenia is drafting to submit to the EU by the end of this month.

"The document will serve as a means of communicating with EU institutions and will also be a message for investors and experts," he said.

The main priorities in the document will be fixing the banks and restructuring companies in an effort to restart the sputtering economy. "This is what is hindering the economy and impacting negatively on stability of public finances."

The minister reiterated his opinion that efforts which focus only on helping banks would fall flat if measures were also not taken to help the over-indebted business sector. This is where his views differ compared to the previous government, which set up the bad bank to deal only with bad assets held by banks.

"I don't believe that we can solve our current problems only by fixing banks; we must also restructure businesses. The bad bank can be used as a tool for both tasks," he said in presenting his strategy.

He stressed that the two questions were closely intertwined. "The moment a company can sustainably repay its liabilities, this is no longer a bad investment for a bank."

"Even when it overhauled its banking system in the early 1990s, Slovenia dealt with the problems partly by restructuring banks and partly by restructuring the portfolios of its clients."

Moreover, the process of restarting the economy must go hand in hand with efforts to consolidate public finances. "We want to continue pursuing a restrictive fiscal policy, however this must not be overly restrictive so as to additionally stifle the economy."

In this respect, he said he was keeping a tab on public debt and the budget, announcing that a supplementary budget for this year was likely.

"This will not be an attempt to simply close out some items, but will include a series of measures dedicated to achieving goals of economic policy," he announced.

In this vein, a temporary increase in value added tax appears increasingly likely. "But we will have to look at both the revenue and expenditure sides and adapt to the situation continually."

Reiterating that he wanted to privatise state-owned companies, Čufer said that restructuring of business and banks would have to take precedence, which is why public debt would rise in the short run.

Ideally, privatisation and restructuring would run at the same time, so proceeds from the sale of one company could be channelled into restructuring of another, but this was not possible in the current situation as completing a sale would take too long, he assessed.

"Nevertheless, a strong pledge about privatisation must be given. My rule is that the funds we will use to restart the economy must be recouped later through privatisation so as to lower public debt."

Moreover, Čufer said an important element in helping businesses restructure would be a properly functioning banking system. "The important thing is for the banking and business wheel to begin turning normally again so as to propel itself."

Assessing that the state could act as a catalyst in helping banks and businesses deal with over-indebtedness, he said that it could not be expected to do everything and that the burden would have to be shared by all stakeholders.

"The owners must contribute first, then banks, suppliers and employees. For state participation, this division of burdens must be clear and efficient."

Moreover, he said efforts must be focused on helping good-standing companies with sustainable business models rather than owners in need of a bailout.

He believes the bad bank will be an effective tool in carrying out this model. "It is a relatively flexible and effective means and makes for a good starting point for helping business."

Saying that efforts to launch the operations of the bad bank were ongoing, he announced that efforts to restructure automotive parts producer Cimos may act as a pilot project for the bad bank in helping to restructure companies.

"It will show how the system of rescuing works in practice. We shall see what the agreement between banks and companies is and how the bad bank can participate. This will form the tools for future use."

Asked about what modalities of the bad bank he is considering changing, he said that, in the long term, there may be some details that could be upgraded. "For example, the five-year term of operations for the bad bad that would force us to sell too quickly and under price. I'm also wondering whether 100% state ownership of the bad bank is really necessary or whether private investors could participate."