The report focusing on the latest trends in FDI says that compared to 2011, the total amount of FDI in the world was down last year by 18% to US$1,351bn.

"Global investments in the world last year dropped below the pre-crisis levels," Andreja Jaklič of the Faculty of Social Sciences, which hosted the presentation, said as she outlined the report.

The future outlook is not too optimistic. It is expected that the total amount of FDI in 2013 will be comparable to the amount for 2012, and a slight recovery is forecast for the coming years, according to Jaklič.

Slovenia has been recording a decrease in FDI, and its investment activity abroad is also slowing down. Last year Slovenia received US$145m of FDI (down from US$999m in 2011), while withdrawing US$94m of its FDI (in 2011 Slovenia invested US$112m abroad).

Matija Rojec of the faculty said that Slovenia needed to do something to attract more FDI. The country should improve its business environment, increase the transparency of privatisation processes and build larger and more competitive industrial parks.

Slovenia's investment and tourism promotion agency, SPIRIT, should be given more powers in attracting foreign investments and more attention should be paid to the expansion of foreign companies that are already present in Slovenia, according to Rojec.