Attending a session of the GZS management board on Wednesday to present Slovenia's macroeconomic framework for 2014 and government's measures to overcome the crisis, Čufer said that Slovenia was not looking "at the end of the crisis" and that "perhaps the worst part is only coming".

The minister agreed that companies have been without adequate access to funding since the crisis started, he however feels that a lot has been done about this with the transfer of bad loans to the bad bank. He added that companies also cannot get loans because they have accumulated too much debt.

While deleveraging cannot occur overnight, he hopes that it will be possible to complete it for most companies this year.

He stressed the importance of the act regulating deleveraging and the restoring of growth connected to this, noting that "export data shows that the first steps in this direction are already under way".

As regards obstacles, Čufer pointed to the rigid labour market and the ownership structure of companies, which "prevent the economy from responding fast".

Čufer, who has been also acting as temporary economy minister, meanwhile remarked that he was surprised to see how many subsidies companies get through different channels. He stressed the need to make use of these funds more effectively.

Another problem, according to Čufer, has been that some companies are clinging on to sectors that have seen very negative trends. This does not mean that they would need to go into receivership, but that they should find alternatives and solutions, he said.