Trading on the MTS electronic market saw the yield on Slovenian bonds with maturity in 2024 edge up 2 basis points to 3.42% by the end of trading on Friday.

That represents a 189 basis point spread on the benchmark 10-year German bunds and is comparable to yields Slovenia enjoyed when it joined the eurozone, before the crisis.

On the week, the yield retreated by 20 basis points, which coincided with what it widely viewed as a successful trip to financial markets as part of which it raised EUR 2bn in fresh debt.

The money was raised with a dual issue of EUR 1bn in 3.5-year bonds and 7-year bonds at coupon rates of 1.75% and 3% which was heavily oversubscribed as about EUR 9.5m in offers were made.

Prime Minister Alenka Bratušek highlighted the falling yields as she addressed parliament on Friday during a debate on the interpellation motion against Interior Minister Gregor Virant.

She told MPs that she did not expect the government to win praise "for avoiding the threat of the Troika, nor for overcoming the high yields on financial markets...nor for dealing with the bank shortfall, turning around the falling GDP and starting to create new jobs".

Admitting that more needed to be done to promote a healthy economy, she wondered why the government was being subjected to "political disqualification, virtually liquidation...in a time when Slovenia is starting to pick itself up off the ground".

The prime minister warned that future actions would determine what path Slovenia will take and whether it could, one day, again find itself in a similarly desperate situation.