Čufer labelled the budgets as stabilising documents, which also bring the necessary fiscal consolidation, so that Slovenia could return to an economic growth as soon as possible.

Revenues in 2014 are expected to stand at EUR 8.6bn, which is about EUR 200m more than planned in the original document. This is due to projections for increased revenues from the EU budget as the government plans to speed up phasing of funds from both the existing and the new financial perspective, explained Finance Ministry State Secretary Mateja Vraničar.

Vraničar moreover explained that the government wanted to continue with the current tax policy, which is why a significant boost in tax revenue is not expected. Tax revenue is projected a EUR 6.8bn, down EUR 28m, which Vraničar said was because the previous budget had been "very optimistic".

The new figure includes revenues from the planned real estate tax, which the government is yet to send to parliament and is expected to generate EUR 205m in new revenues, half of which will go to the state and half to the municipalities, according to Čufer.

Expenditure for the next year stands at EUR 9.6bn, which is about EUR 150m less than originally planned. Domestic expenditure is being scaled back but expenditure related to European funds is beefed up by almost EUR 270m.

Vraničar said that the government earmarked an additional EUR 185m for pension insurance and EUR 227m for the servicing of public debt.

The government did not however take into account some EUR 170m required to fulfil a court order on back pay for certain public servants. "It is obvious that this payment cannot be made by increasing the deficit or increasing taxes," Čufer said.

He added that the government had also been considering to further increase VAT, but then abandoned the idea for the sake of stabilising the taxes. "We want to give a clear signal to businesses that their projects and investments will have a clearer tax environment," he said.

"A lot of effort had to be made to come to these figures," Čufer stressed, adding that the government wanted to reduce the deficit to 2.5% of GDP in 2015.

The minister stressed that restructuring of banks is six months late because of stress tests. Had the problem of the banking sector been already solved and financing of companies secured, the budget could be even more restrictive.

Slovenia has sufficient funds to last until April, Čufer reiterated. Once the amount of cash required to patch up the banking sector is known - most likely by the end of November when the bank stress tests return results - the government will decide on further steps, the minister said, adding that EUR 1.2bn has been aside so far.