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Last year, Slovenia's budget deficit exceeded EUR 1.5bn. The July deficit has been chalked up to annual bonus for pensioners and income tax returns.

Budget revenue totalled to EUR 4.7bn in the first seven months of the year, while expenditure reached EUR 5.6bn, the most recent data provided by the Finance Ministry show.

The state collected a total of EUR 3.7bn in taxes between January and July. The bulk of the sum - EUR 2.9bn - came from taxes on products and services, while income taxes raked in EUR 695m.

Non-tax revenue, which includes income from dividends and other investments, amounted to EUR 528m in the first seven moths of the year.

The state received EUR 436m in EU funds in the seven months, and the figure is expected to grow to EUR 1.2bn by the end of the year.

On the other side, social transfers remain the biggest single expenditure. Transfers were EUR 64m higher in July than in June due to a EUR 85.6m pay out of pensioner bonuses, a lump sum paid once a year to around a half of the pensioners. Transfers amounted to EUR 3.2bn between January and July.

With the public debt increasing, loan interests have also become a heavy burden for the budget, amounting to EUR 669m in the first seven months of the year. By the end of the year the cost of interest is expected to climb to EUR 940m.