The report, which examines business regulations in individual countries, puts Singapore, New Zealand and Hong Kong at the top. Singapore has topped the ranking for nine consecutive years.

Out of ten criteria that make up the country's ranking, Slovenia did best in the field of protection of small shareholders, ranking 14th.

The second best ranking for Slovenia among the ten criteria was the establishing of companies (15th).

The country remained level in 31st as regards energy supply, but dropped three spots to 42nd in resolving insolvency despite the fact that the report lists Slovenia as one of the countries that managed to simplify insolvency procedures.

Slovenia slid two places to 42nd in terms of tax collection and dropped a spot to 53rd in international trade.

The country did worst in the ranking of loan accessibility, dropping by five places to 116th, and the effectiveness of the courts in dispute settling, where it remained level in 122nd.

The Chamber of Trade Crafts and Small Business (OZS) said that the drop was no surprise at all. "We have been warning in vain for years that the business climate is bad and that we have to take measures."

Considering the situation in the past year, when politics was dealing with itself and no necessary structural reforms were adopted, another drop in the rankings is not surprising, the chamber added.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) meanwhile assessed that the slide was mainly a consequence of the changed criteria for assessing the functioning of the rule of law and administrative procedures.

The GZS added that there had been no major legislative changes towards simplifying business procedures in the past year.