The paper focuses on the endeavours of Slovenian authorities to modernise Slovenian economy in the period after the second world war. After presenting different phases and measures of economic policy in the post-war decades, the author's main conclusion is that Slovenian economy at the beginning of the 1990s lagged behind in technology, had a high proportion of obsolete fixed assets and worn out equipment and economic infrastructure was only poorly developed. This was a consequence of the fact that the goals set forth were not consistently fulfilled.