Inflation: 1.5%

Budget Balance (% GDP): - 5.1

Population: 2.1m

The prime minister, Janez Jansa of the centre-right Slovenian Democratic Party, leads
the latest in a succession of fragile coalitions. The administration, like its three
immediate predecessors, may not finish its term. Mr Jansa’s sympathies with climate
sceptics and anti-immigration nationalists will spark more popular protests. Covid- 19
infections and fatalities were relatively light, but an economy dependent on tourists and
supply-chain links with hard-hit Italy has suffered disproportionately and recovery will
take time.

Spain

GDP growth: 6.8%

GDP per head: $29,600 (PPP: $40,450)

Inflation: 0.9%

Budget Balance (% GDP): - 7.4

Population: 46.8m

One of Europe’s most severe outbreaks of covid-19 brought an initial flush of unity to
Spain’s turbulent party politics. But ideological enmity quickly resurfaced, and there
was no guarantee in late 2020 that the coalition of the centre-left Spanish Socialist
Workers’ Party and the far-left Podemos would make it beyond the vote on a 2021
budget, let alone complete a term that nominally ends in 2023. The health crisis was
matched by an economic one, from which recovery will be slow and accompanied by
sharp declines in living standards.