Slovenia’s small and open economy raises its sensitivity to global developments, and the recession in 2009 generated a strong fiscal deterioration and worrisome upward trend in the public debt, although both the public debt and deficit are expected to remain below the OECD average. Urgent fiscal consolidation measures have included the reduction of public sector employment and the public sector wage bill in order to reduce operational expenditure. At the same time, a well-functioning public administration is critical to helping the government set a workable strategy for recovery and long-term growth, and to identify and implement the policy measures in support of this. The effectiveness of the public administration as well as its efficiency needs attention at this stage, requiring actions to strengthen strategy planning and its link to budgeting; rationalisation of internal functions and structures; establishing a more coherent Centre of Government and strengthening the political/administrative interface; and addressing contextual issues such as legislative complexity that undermine flexibility and the implementation of reforms.