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Vote Leader Says Slovenia Should Have Controlling NLB Stake

  • Sarec wants Slovenian state to own a strong domestic bank
  • Issues around Slovene banks were ‘messed up,’ he says
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Marjan Sarec, whose political movement is leading opinion polls before elections in May or June, said that Slovenia should own a strong domestic bank, even as he criticized the government’s delay to sell state-owned lender Nova Ljubljanska Banka d.d.

The Adriatic nation is extending talks with the European Commission after the government-in-resignation of Prime Minister Miro Cerar reneged on a pledge to sell NLB, the country’s largest bank, last year. The sale was a condition for a 3.2 billion euro ($3.93 billion) bailout in 2013, when EU officials allowed Slovenia to rescue the bank to avoid a Greek-style international bailout of its state-run lenders.