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While setting lower inflation as one of his main goals when he took office in late 2002 when inflation was well above 6%, Mramor is best known for having pushed through a tax reform that increased income tax and capital gains tax with a view to reducing the taxation of labour.

During his stint, the financial sector was being restructured through the launch of the final stage of privatisation of insurers and the creation of a second financial group around the state-owned NKBM bank. The country also entered the ERM II European exchange rate mechanism as part of its preparations for the euro.

Mramor, who had also served as member of the governing council of the central bank between 1986 and 1991 and chair of the experts council of the securities market regulator, announced in a hearing in parliament this week a restrictive fiscal policy, underscoring the need to boost competitiveness, continue with privatisation and encourage FDI.

Jožef Petrovič, economic development and technology minister (SMC)

Petrovič, 56, holds a bachelor's degree in economics and has had a career in the corporate sector spanning three decades. He worked for energy group Petrol and publisher DZS before becoming the director of newsstand operator Delo prodaja. Since March 2014, he has been the director of Unichem, a chemical company.

He ran on the SMC ticket in the town of Krško in this year's early election but was not elected. That was his first attempt to enter national politics, a move that he says was motivated by the economic and political circumstances in the country.

"I decided to no longer be just an observer. It is very simple to criticise, it is much more difficult to tackle the problems," he said in an interview with www.posavje.info, a local news website.

At his ministerial hearing in parliament Petrovič said his focus would be on building a "healthy business environment", promoting measures such as the systemic delevaraging of companies, promotion of exports, a crackdown on the shadow economy, lower taxation of labour, and greener subsidies.